0845 373 5888 - Edinburgh International Book Festival
Transcription
0845 373 5888 - Edinburgh International Book Festival
intro 15/5/07 12:02 PM Page 2 I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H 11 – 27 August 2007 Charlotte Square Gardens www.edbookfest.co.uk intro 15/5/07 12:03 PM Page 3 thanks to all our sponsors and supporters The Edinburgh International Book Festival is funded by Title Sponsor of Schools and Children’s Programmes and Main Theatre Media Partner Major sponsors and supporters H AW T H O R N D E N L I T E R A RY R E T R E AT Sponsors and supporters The Bacher Trust, Binks Trust, Canadian High Commission, Carnegie UK Trust, Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, The John S Cohen Foundation, Collective Gallery, The Craignish Trust, Cruden Foundation, Culture Ireland, Danish Arts Council, Finnish Literature Information Centre, The Gannochy Trust, Goethe Institut, Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust, Institut Français d’Ecosse, Italian Cultural Institute, Edinburgh, Japan Foundation, The Morton Charitable Trust, Québec Government Office, London, The Royal Norwegian Consulate General, The Sutherland Trust, The Scottish Institute for Human Relations, United States Embassy in London, U.S. Consulate in Edinburgh The Edinburgh International Book Festival is sited in Charlotte Square Gardens by kind permission of the Charlotte Square Proprietors intro 21/5/07 5:15 PM Page 4 Edinburgh International Book Festival Charlotte Square Gardens, 11 – 27 August 2007 Pop in, we’d love to see you – entry to our garden is FREE Events… and more events! 700 in all. Inventive, imaginative, inspirational. They all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. Join the debate Discussion panels this year focus on everything from stem cells, immigration and Scottish independence to the Middle East and feminism. Two bookshops Thousands of titles. Both are owned and operated by us and all proceeds are put straight back into the Book Festival. Refreshments Fairtrade coffees and teas, tasty homemade cakes, light meals and snacks. All are available throughout the festival from our cafés. Children Literally hundreds of events for babies upwards, plus the RBS Children’s Bookshop – a space dedicated to children’s literature. Live music and summer evenings We are open until late into the evening: see a favourite author, have a leisurely drink in the bar and listen to some free live music in the Highland Park Spiegeltent – it’s open every night until late from Sun 12 Aug. Book Tickets: www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 (calls charged at the local rate) See page 58 for full booking information search for events Page 2–3 Welcome Introduction to the 2007 programme 4 – 37 Events for adults Listed in date order to help you get the most out of your visit. Please use our website search to see events listed by theme, content and/or author. 38 – 39 Welcome to the RBS Children’s Programme Key themes and useful information for parents and carers. 40 – 54 Events for children, teens & some for adults Listed in date order to help you plan your day. 55 Other events, bookshops and food and drink in the gardens 56 Site map, venue details and facilities for disabled visitors 57 Edinburgh and the festivals 58 Booking Information 59 Booking Form 60 – 61 Index Search our programme by author here. Look out for this symbol. A small selection of events older teens (over 16s) and young adults may particularly enjoy. E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 1 intro 15/5/07 12:05 PM Page 5 Welcome Exhilaration, imagination, inspiration – it is amazing what one green garden can contain. Welcome to our festival of open horizons and energising ideas, at the heart of Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature. In seventeen extraordinary days we have over 700 events for you to choose from, each one carefully created and programmed; we have over 600 authors from over 35 different countries. Our celebration of books and all that they contain is the most international and enlivening on the planet. It is also one of the most accessible and affordable; I am very proud that we have frozen our ticket prices for the seventh consecutive year, and have more free and low-price events than ever before. Our festival is for everyone, of all ages, of all tastes and means and dreams. The world comes to our garden this August for the spinning of stories, the cracking of jokes, the meeting of minds. Come and join in the conversation. Catherine Lockerbie, Director ‘The Times is delighted to be sponsoring this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival, which has grown into Britain’s greatest and best-loved literary event. We look forward to joining authors and their readers in the tented splendour of Charlotte Square, and to supporting the discussions and debates which make this a uniquely enjoyable celebration of writing.’ Magnus Linklater, Scotland Editor, The Times 2 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 LongPen: Norman Mailer and Alice Munro, live from North America In a world first, the Book Festival brings you two of the greatest living authors, who cannot physically be present in Edinburgh – and they will even sign your books! The LongPen is the extraordinary invention of Margaret Atwood. It is the world’s first long distance, real-time, real pen and ink autographing device. In these pioneering events, Norman Mailer in the States and Alice Munro in Canada will be interviewed via video link-up – then members of the audience can talk directly to them and have their books signed, even though they are thousands of miles away. Look out for news of further signings and opportunities to talk to far-distant writers – just check the website, www.edbookfest.co.uk, or the screen in the entrance tent. International Line-Up Our Book Festival becomes ever more international, opening up other cultures. More than 35 different countries are represented this year, including China, Japan, India, Burma, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Gambia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Norway, Denmark, Finland, US, Canada, Argentina, Colombia, Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Iran, Afghanistan, Algeria and Egypt. Writers Of The World Look out for our special Writers Of The World series, bringing you the most exciting new fiction and poetry from other lands. At the heart of the Book Festival is our passion for discovery. As part of our commitment to introduce new names and broaden horizons, these events are at the special low ticket price of £5 – as are our first fiction and other events in the Writers’ Retreat – allowing you to explore and discover the new. Story Shop Celebrating the short story and its compact beauty, there will be free readings of ‘micro stories’ at the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature information desk in the Bookshop, every day from Saturday 11 to Sunday 19 August at 4pm. Drop by and hear a short reading from some of Edinburgh's finest authors, and find out more about Scotland’s literature. For more information visit www.edbookfest.co.uk or www.cityofliterature.com or just check the screen in the entrance tent each day. intro 15/5/07 12:05 PM who’s on Page 6 Alan Bennett Margaret Atwood Ian McEwan Joyce Carol Oates Andrew Marr Richard Ford John Pilger Niall Ferguson Charles Spencer Fay Weldon Paddy Ashdown Richard Dawkins Jeremy Paxman Tony Harrison Blake Morrison Ben Okri Michael Frayn Claire Tomalin Clive James Graham Swift Pat Barker Ian Rankin Joanne Harris William McIlvanney Sebastian Faulks Iain Banks Alexander McCall Smith James Kelman William Gibson Kate Atkinson Billy Bragg Lynne Truss Douglas Hurd Michael Wood …and over 600 more And in the autumn: Michael Ondaatje Edinburgh is the world’s first City of Literature – a unique, permanent designation conferred by UNESCO in recognition of the Scottish capital’s rich literary past, dynamic present and aspirations for the future. As the late Dame Muriel Spark said on her special visit to the Book Festival in 2004: ‘Edinburgh is a city of books and learning, open to all knowledge. The stones speak.’ From Robert Louis Stevenson and Walter Scott to Ian Rankin and J K Rowling, Edinburgh is a writers’ city and a readers’ city. We are now encouraging other cities elsewhere in the world to join us in celebrating their own literary identity. The Book Festival is proud to be a central part of Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature; and to proclaim at all times the profound importance of words, ideas and literature to Scotland, its connections with the world and its future. Please visit the City Of Literature information desk in the Bookshop, from Saturday 11 August to Sunday 19 August, from 11.00am to 4.00pm. Or visit www.cityofliterature.com a taste of our major 2007 themes Slavery Stories Genes and Society In this 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade, we remember that inhumanity, hear forgotten stories and look at new forms of slavery today. From stem cells and DNA testing, to what really composes our identity, we explore the new ethical challenges posed by the rapid advances in genomics and medical science. Focus on India Business Matters This is a resonant year for India: the 60th anniversary of independence, the 150th anniversary of the Mutiny. We have the finest writers on and from the subcontinent. Some of the most creative thinkers, offering advice and insight for business and for leading richer personal lives too. Focus on China The return of our hugely popular philosophy and psychology series. An in-depth look at the extraordinary economic and cultural transformation of the planet’s most populous country and the likely effects on the rest of the world. War and the Media Leading foreign correspondents speak of the horror and adrenalin rush of the front line and the fast-changing relationship of media, new technology and war. The Open University Environment Series The Writing Business and Writing Workshops A greatly expanded series of workshops offering help and advice on writing for adults and for children. Also, our daily Writing Business series giving pragmatic insight into many aspects of publishing and books. Writers of the World Discover brand new names from other cultures and languages. See opposite page for more details. As the world wakes up to the perils of climate change, water wars, the end of oil and more, we bring you the leading writers and thinkers on the environment. Nations Unlimited Our acclaimed and popular series looking at nation states in the twenty-first century, how they behave and why, and the future world order. In this 300th anniversary year, we have a special focus on the Union between Scotland and England – made all the more important by this year’s historic Scottish election. East and West Matters of the Mind Our annual in-depth examination of relations between the Islamic world and the West. This year, a special emphasis on British Muslims. We have Britain and the world’s leading writers in Meet The Author, the best novelists in Fine Fiction, thinkers on globalisation in Global World, biographies and memoir in Lived Lives and so much more: science, poetry, crime, food, history, music, travel, literature and culture, family matters, comedy and more. Watch the website for updates Changes and exciting new events are added to the programme after the brochure is printed. Keep checking our website for the latest news, or we can update you via email – just join our e-mailing list: www.edbookfest.co.uk E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 3 adult 21/5/07 5:16 PM Page 2 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Saturday 11 August 2007 Paddy Ashdown Candia McWilliam WAKE UP TO WORDS Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am This year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival opens with one of the most beguiling artists of language and emotion to have emerged from Scotland. In her insight, generosity of spirit and profound commitment to the transforming power of literature, perhaps no writer captures the spirit of the Book Festival more. Join her for a perfect beginning. Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 RBS Main Theatre 1.30pm A highly important talk by Lord Ashdown, former soldier and leader of the Liberal Democrats, on building peace in the twenty-first century. From his extensive experience he analyses in Swords and Ploughshares how conflicts generated by failed states must not be allowed to escalate into full scale wars – using American strategy in Iraq as an example of how not to do it. £7.00 £5.00 Poetry as a Process Hamida Ghafour WRITING WORKSHOP EAST AND WEST Writers’ Retreat Peppers Theatre 11.00am Afghanistan has endured the Soviet invasion, the Taliban and now dangerous challenges to its reconstruction and future – an ancient land which is a crucible of the East-West divide. Young Canadian-Afghan journalist Hamida Ghafour returns, in The Sleeping Buddha, to the place of her birth and childhood and offers fascinating insight into ordinary people and ideologies. £7.00 £5.00 How to Write Non-Fiction Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm – 3.30pm Little Broken Songs. Forget that long, long wait for inspiration. This workshop will look at ways of stimulating the imagination then translating this into a finished piece of verse. A must for the experienced and novices alike. With John Glenday, whose two collections The Apple Ghost and Undark, are critically acclaimed. (Maximum 20 places). In association with Arvon tutors at Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre £10.00 £8.00 Elif Shafak & Joan Smith EAST AND WEST WRITING WORKSHOP 11.00am – 12.30pm Chocolate, Mummies and Worms. Acclaimed and prolific children’s author Vivian French starts our hugely popular series of workshops with a hands-on session on writing bestselling non-fiction for children of all ages. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 William Dalrymple THE TIMES EVENT Peppers Theatre 2.30pm Prosecuted in Istanbul for ‘public denigration of Turkishness’ – the same charge laid against Orhan Pamuk – Elif Shafak’s ‘crime’ was to have a fictional character refer to the alleged Armenian genocide of 1915. At trial, she was acquitted. Meet the cosmopolitan author who sheds unique light on the complexities of Turkey’s past and present. She is joined by leading writer and campaigner for freedom of expression Joan Smith, whose new novel looks at the equally complex situation in Lebanon. £7.00 £5.00 BSL FOCUS ON INDIA RBS Main Theatre 11.30am On our opening morning, we welcome one of the most internationally acclaimed of Scottish writers to kick off one of our major themes of 2007: a special focus on India in a momentous year, marking the 60th anniversary of independence and the 150th of the Mutiny. No writer unearths and evokes Indian history with the clarity and insight of award-winning William Dalrymple, who brilliantly illuminates the events and impact of the siege of Delhi. Alan Bennett MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 3.00pm £7.00 £5.00 We are overjoyed to welcome one of the best-loved writers in Britain for the first Meet The Author event of the 2007 Book Festival. All of Alan Bennett’s humour and humanity are beautifully contained in his latest sublime fiction, The Uncommon Reader, in which the Queen discovers literature with some unexpected results. £7.00 £5.00 Tariq Ramadan Harry G Gelber & Mark Leonard FOCUS ON CHINA EAST AND WEST ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon One of the most influential commentators on Islam in the West, and on Muslims in modern Europe, Tariq Ramadan now returns to the Prophet himself. The Messenger is a highly enlightening study which reveals much about Muhammad and asks how Muslims can re-engage meaningfully with the spiritual and ethical riches of Islam. £7.00 £5.00 Natsuo Kirino 12.30pm A rare opportunity to meet one of Japan’s leading writers, brought to the UK specially by and for the Book Festival. Natsuo Kirino transcends genre, having won Japan’s leading mystery and literary prizes. In Grotesque, set in Tokyo, she chillingly explores the female psyche and the extreme need to succeed in a bewildering modern world. Supported by the Japan Foundation E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L EAST AND WEST Peppers Theatre 4.00pm A former Algerian army commanding officer, who adopted a female pen name to escape military censorship, Mohammed Moulessehoul found international literary success as Yasmina Khadra, with Swallows of Kabul among others. His latest novel The Attack, set in Tel Aviv, brings his unique perspective to bear on terrorism and the motivations of a female suicide bomber. £7.00 £5.00 £7.00 £5.00 4 £7.00 £5.00 Yasmina Khadra WRITERS OF THE WORLD Peppers Theatre ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm China dominates the world agenda more and more, with its explosive economic growth. Opening our 2007 examination of this far-reaching phenomenon are two leading commentators. Mark Leonard, one of the most brilliant young analysts of the age, asks What Does China Think?; Harry G Gelber gives a compelling narrative of China’s relations with the rest the world over the last three millennia. 11 – 27 August 2007 adult 21/5/07 5:17 PM Page 3 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Saturday 11 August 2007 Raj Persaud THE RITCHIE NEILL EVENT RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm One of the Book Festival’s favourite guests returns with the book we’ve been waiting for: Simply Irresistible: The Psychology of Seduction. As one of Britain’s leading psychiatrists, much sought after in the media, Raj Persaud uses the latest research to explain – and possibly even teach – the science of attraction. £7.00 £5.00 How to Get Published THE WRITING BUSINESS Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm To open our hugely popular Writing Business series, bringing you practical advice and insider knowledge about aspects of publishing and writing, an expert panel gives some hints on how to get your work published. Join award-winning author Nicola Morgan, agent Jenny Brown and publisher Bob McDevitt. Supported by The Society of Authors £5.00 £3.00 Jackie Kay Rosie Boycott NATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm One of Britain’s leading journalists and broadcasters tells the story of a year in the life of her smallholding – compassionate, witty human tales of a farm and a community, and of learning the hard way how to be self-sufficient. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. £8.00 £6.00 Michael Longley POETRY Peppers Theatre 7.00pm Rightly described as ‘one of the finest lyric poets of our time’, Michael Longley is a towering figure in modern poetry, having won every award from the T S Eliot Prize to the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. His Northern Irish voice is beautifully and richly displayed in the essential Collected Poems, which we celebrate today. £8.00 £6.00 Naim Araidi, Seyhan Erozcelik, Fatma Naoot & Amir Or POETRY WRITERS OF THE WORLD ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm An hour in Jackie Kay’s company is purest bliss. Award-winning story writer and poet, broadcaster and playwright, her warmth and generosity of spirit permeate her appearances. Hear poetry, stories and something of her work on the resonant anniversary of the abolition of slavery. Chaired by Janice Forsyth of BBC Radio Scotland’s The Radio Café £7.00 £5.00 Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm A unique chance to meet four leading and influential poets of Middle Eastern provenance: Naim Araidi (Arab-Israeli), Seyhan Erozcelik (Turkish), Fatma Naoot (Egyptian) and Amir Or (Israeli). Come and hear these literary voices revealing the mosaic of contemporary cultural identity in the Middle East. In association with Literature Across Frontiers and the Scottish Poetry Library Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series £5.00 £3.00 WRITERS IN PRISON Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Today: We open this series with the work of writers currently in prison in Syria, Cuba and China. Among those appearing: Mark Leonard. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event Rawi Hage & Nada Awar Jarrar WRITERS OF THE WORLD Michael Wood FOCUS ON INDIA RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm Our celebration of the 60th anniversary of Indian independence continues with Michael Wood. The acclaimed historian and television presenter brings all his knowledge, enthusiasm and flair to bear, as he embarks on an epic journey through the extraordinary geography and history of the endlessly fascinating subcontinent. £8.00 £6.00 Edmund White Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm Our new Writers Of The World series, bringing the most exciting novelists and poets as yet too little known in the UK, continues with a compelling double bill illuminating the human stories of the 1980s Lebanese civil war. Rawi Hage now lives in Québec; his stunning first novel De Niro’s Game, set in his native Beirut, has taken Canada by storm. Nada Awar Jarrar visits specially from Lebanon with the intensely moving Dreams Of Water, about a brother’s disappearance. £5.00 £3.00 INTERNATIONAL FICTION Philip Gourevitch & Will Self Douglas Galbraith & Panos Karnezis THE ISLE OF JURA EVENT RBS Main Theatre 6.30pm In 1946 Orwell retreated to the Isle of Jura to write the enduring classic Nineteen Eighty-Four. Following in his footsteps, novelist Will Self, and acclaimed writer and editor of the Paris Review, Philip Gourevitch, have spent time on the island as part of the Isle of Jura Writer Retreat programme. Join them as they reflect on their island experience, Orwell’s continuing relevance and legacy, and the significance of reportage and dystopian writing in today’s world. In association with Scottish Book Trust £8.00 £6.00 ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm We are delighted to welcome back to the Book Festival one of America’s great writers. Today we launch his magnificent new novel, Hotel de Dream, a tender and atmospheric portrait of the last days of the American writer Stephen Crane, who found inspiration among the poor on the streets, and who died of TB in 1900 aged only twenty-eight. £8.00 £6.00 FINE FICTION Peppers Theatre 8.30pm Two superb novelists with powerful and involving accounts of tycoons. Panos Karnezis has written of his native Greece and of Anatolia; his new novel The Birthday Party crosses continents as it chronicles a father’s rise to wealth and power. Acclaimed Scottish author Douglas Galbraith uncovers the startling tale of billionaire industrialist Henry Ford’s doomed First World War peace mission to Europe. £8.00 £6.00 Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 40 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 5 adult 15/5/07 12:14 PM Page 4 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Sunday 12 August 2007 Nick Laird & Daljit Nagra WAKE UP TO WORDS Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am Start Sunday morning with two of the most gifted young poets to have emerged in recent years. Nick Laird, born in County Tyrone, is a major and significant new voice: we are delighted and privileged to launch his second collection On Purpose. Daljit Nagra’s Look We Have Coming To Dover! brilliantly explores British-Asian experience in our multicultural land. Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 Lewis Alsamari & Marina Nemat EAST AND WEST Peppers Theatre 11.00am Two extraordinary personal accounts of escape to the West from Iraq and Iran. Lewis Alsamari fled conscription into Saddam’s elite forces, survived being shot, a gruelling desert trek, and a desperate attempt to release his family from Abu Ghraib. Now an actor, he starred in United 93 about the 9/11 attacks. Marina Nemat, an Iranian Christian, was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Guard aged sixteen and was saved by her jailer in return for a secret marriage. Powerful and humbling tales of the human spirit fighting back against fanaticism. £7.00 £5.00 Writing History WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 11.00am – 12.30pm Prolific and experienced historical author Angus Konstam will outline the practical tools and techniques required for the successful writing of historical non-fiction. For published and aspiring historians. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 Joyce Carol Oates BSL MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 11.30am We are overjoyed to welcome Joyce Carol Oates, one of America’s most admired and respected novelists. Consistently cited as a strong contender for the Nobel Prize, her work has ranged widely and deeply for over four decades. Her bold new novel, Black Girl / White Girl, examines issues of race in the US in the troubled years after the Vietnam War. £7.00 £5.00 Jacqueline van Maarsen JEWS IN THE WORLD ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon Come and meet Anne Frank’s best friend. Jacqueline van Maarsen – who had been declared Jewish even though her mother was a French Catholic – went to school with the young Anne in Amsterdam. Hear the remarkable tale of how she escaped her friend’s tragic fate and her enduring lessons on the evil of discrimination. £7.00 £5.00 John Walsh FINE FICTION Peppers Theatre 12.30pm Leading journalist, presenter and larger-than-life literary figure, John Walsh pours all his prodigious energy, intelligence and humour into his new novel Sunday At The Cross Bones – a vivid picture of 1930s London, in which moral decay and prostitution flourish, stoutly resisted by the Rector of Stiffkey; a real-life figure brilliantly re-imagined. £7.00 £5.00 Writing for Older Children and Teenagers WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm – 3.30pm A rewarding, wide-ranging and complex market. Nicola Morgan, awardwinning author and accomplished speaker, leads you round the pitfalls, gives a deep insight into the minds and needs of these readers, and offers practical and thought-provoking advice. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 Sarfraz Manzoor LIVED LIVES Peppers Theatre 2.30pm A Pakistani Muslim arriving in Britain aged three, Sarfraz Manzoor fills his affectionate and illuminating memoir with the perceptions of a boy who didn’t quite belong – until music entered his life. Greetings From Bury Park: Race, Religion and Rock‘n’ Roll charts a changing multicultural Britain and the transformational power of Bruce Springsteen. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. £7.00 £5.00 Raj Persaud MATTERS OF THE MIND RBS Main Theatre 3.00pm The leading psychiatrist who understands our most hidden motives crossexamines our surprise guest in this ‘in the psychiatrist’s chair’ session. One of the most revealing interviews of the summer! £7.00 £5.00 Saul David FOCUS ON INDIA ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm Our Indian anniversary series continues with one of the most insightful and engaging of our leading historians, Book Festival favourite Saul David. He returns to the bloody days of the Delhi mutiny, illuminating those heroic and tragic times and their lasting repercussions. £7.00 £5.00 Nicholas Ostler LITERATURE AND CULTURE Peppers Theatre 4.00pm The story of Latin is the story of Western culture. How did the dialect of a small Italian city state come to underpin our European identity, law, religion, science, education and more? Ad Infinitum is Nicholas Ostler's fascinating ‘biography’ of the most important language of them all, whose influence is still all around us. £7.00 £5.00 Norman Mailer live from the USA with Andrew O’Hagan MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm An extraordinary event in every way – Norman Mailer speaking and signing books live from America. One of the finest Scottish and UK writers, Andrew O’Hagan, will interview the titan of American letters about his prodigious career, via video link. A limited number of books will then be signed using the remarkable LongPen, invented by Margaret Atwood, which allows the author to sign no matter the distance. History in the making. £7.00 £5.00 How to Write for the Educational Market THE WRITING BUSINESS Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm Learn about the many opportunities and skills in writing primary school textbooks with highly experienced and successful children’s author Linda Strachan. Supported by The Society of Authors £5.00 £3.00 6 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 adult 15/5/07 12:14 PM Page 5 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Sunday 12 August 2007 David Flusfeder & Will Self Union Debate ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm An unmissable double bill. Will Self is a great champion of the fiction of American David Flusfeder, whose remarkable new novel The Pagan House spans the founding of a Utopian nineteenth century sect and a confused young contemporary adolescent. Self’s own most recent novel, The Book of Dave, is a powerful satire on extremism. £7.00 £5.00 Highland Park Spiegeltent 7.30pm – 8.45pm The 300th anniversary of the Union of Scotland and England has provoked much debate and discussion this year, not just about the past but also about where Scotland’s future lies, not least because of this year’s historic election. Join three of the leading historians and commentators Michael Fry, Paul Scott and Christopher Whatley, with very different positions on the significance and desirability of the Union. Have your own say! £8.00 £6.00 FINE FICTION Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series OUR DISAPPEARING WORLD Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Today: As writers speak out about the destruction of their environment, they face determined opposition from governments and multinational corporations. Among those appearing: Marina Nemat. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event Dayo Forster & Dinaw Mengestu WRITERS OF THE WORLD Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm Two compelling African debuts in our groundbreaking Writers Of The World series. Dayo Forster brilliantly and stylishly evokes Gambia and the modern African experience through the eyes of an eighteen year old girl. Dinaw Mengestu brings his native Ethiopia and its revolution into sharp focus through the reflective perspective of an American immigrant. £5.00 £3.00 Philip Gourevitch LITERATURE AND CULTURE ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm The Paris Review is one of the great iconic literary publications, with in-depth interviews with the world’s great writers. Hear from its esteemed current editor Philip Gourevitch, whose We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families won huge acclaim for its coverage of the 1994 Rwandan massacres. £8.00 £6.00 Rachel Seiffert & Erica Wagner FINE FICTION NATIONS UNLIMITED: THE UNION RikardoArregi, BernardoAtxaga & Miren Agur Meabe WRITERS OF THE WORLD Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm A rare and important literary treat: the finest contemporary Basque writing for the first time at the Book Festival. Bernardo Atxaga, leading European novelist, poet and songwriter is the figurehead of Basque culture; he is joined by major fellow writers for us to experience both Basque poetry and song. In association with Literature Across Frontiers and Arc Publications £5.00 £3.00 Nations Unlimited THE RSA LECTURES RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm Our RSA series of lectures have become a much anticipated event in the Book Festival calendar. This opening lecture explores further the concept of nations and what they mean in the twenty-first century. Join us for a fascinating and essential insight into a globally important subject. Please check our website for details of who will deliver our first RSA lecture of 2007. £8.00 £6.00 Andrew O’Hagan THE LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS EVENT ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm One of the brightest and most gifted of writers of his generation, Andrew O’Hagan writes captivatingly of faith, love, loneliness, class and his native Scotland in his latest hugely admired novel Be Near Me, the tale of a troubled priest. Join him for powerful prose and uncanny perception. £8.00 £6.00 Oliver August & Guy Delisle FOCUS ON CHINA Peppers Theatre 8.30pm Our Chinese series continues with two extraordinary travelogues. Oliver August, former China correspondent of The Times, sets off in search of China’s most wanted man; an atmospheric and revealing investigation. Québécois Guy Delisle has created a brilliant graphic novel about his travels to the booming yet closed city of Shenzhen. Peppers Theatre 7.00pm Utterly involving and seductive fiction from two of the most important talents to have emerged in the last few years. Booker-shortlisted, Rachel Seiffert confirms all her promise with the morally complex and understated Afterwards about a young couple’s burden of secrets. Erica Wagner, literary editor of The Times, creates a haunting tale of family, loss, longing and incest in Seizure. £8.00 £6.00 £8.00 £6.00 Free – open to all Spiegelbar Highland Park Spiegeltent Come and relax and listen to live music. from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 41 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 7 adult 15/5/07 12:15 PM Page 6 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Monday 13 August 2007 Andrew Greig, Sophie Hannah & Donny O’Rourke Writing Children’s Characters WRITING WORKSHOP WAKE UP TO WORDS Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am The finest poetry to perk up Monday morning. Saltire winner Andrew Greig writes in many forms but today we celebrate his superb poems; hugely talented fellow Scot Donny O’Rourke reads from his newest collection; and Sophie Hannah – whose novels are featured later in the day – is also a bestselling poet and leading voice of her generation. Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 £10.00 £8.00 Tina Cassidy FAMILY AND SOCIETY Peppers Theatre Norman Davies NATIONS UNLIMITED Peppers Theatre 11.00am One of the most eminent of living historians, some of Norman Davies’s seminal work is collected in Europe East and West, showing how Western European thinking underestimates the centrality and importance of Eastern European experience. New insight and startlingly fresh perspectives on our recent collective history. £7.00 £5.00 Graham Swift Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm – 3.30pm Learn how to make your characters live and breathe – creating believable and interesting characters for children's stories. With Linda Strachan, creator of Hamish McHaggis amongst others. (Maximum 20 places). £7.00 £5.00 Terry Eagleton LITERATURE AND CULTURE RBS Main Theatre BSL MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 11.30am A new novel from Booker winner Graham Swift is a cause for rejoicing. One of the most sensitive and intelligent of British novelists, in Tomorrow he illuminates the fears and hopes of a family’s life on one night before the millennium – a moving exploration of the mystery of happiness. Come and meet a master. £7.00 £5.00 Claire MacDonald Katrin Himmler ScottishPower Studio Theatre THE GREEN MOUNTAIN COFFEE ROASTERS EVENT LIVED LIVES ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon What happens when you discover your great-uncle Heinrich was head of the SS and chief perpetrator of the Holocaust? Katrin Himmler married an Israeli whose family were confined to the ghetto and has a young halfJewish son. Deciding to confront her family history she carefully explores how a respectable and well-educated family member came to perpetrate some of the worst crimes against humanity. £7.00 £5.00 3.30pm Lady Claire MacDonald is rightly one of the best-loved chefs and food writers in the land. In this special event she brings all her skill and joie de vivre to Celebrations, special food for special milestones in our lives. £7.00 £5.00 Lesley Glaister & Sophie Hannah FINE FICTION Brenda Almond Peppers Theatre FAMILY AND SOCIETY Peppers Theatre 12.30pm Does it matter that the traditional family is fragmenting? Professor Brenda Almond, distinguished philosopher and adviser on ethics, argues that contrary to the prevailing liberal consensus, it does: that unless the role of the family is reconsidered, serious social problems will accumulate. Compassionate and controversial. £7.00 £5.00 4.00pm Sophisticated and chilling, here are two expert exponents of the literary thriller. Award-winning poet Sophie Hannah has had huge success with her novels, taut plots with acute psychological insight. Lesley Glaister’s beautifully written latest, Nina Todd Has Gone, explores stalking and dark secrets. £7.00 £5.00 Craig Raine LIVED LIVES Norman Lebrecht RBS Main Theatre MUSIC AND SOCIETY ScottishPower Studio Theatre 2.00pm Exhilaratingly polemical, always controversial, leading music critic Norman Lebrecht takes no prisoners. In Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness he journeys through the life (and, he argues, death) of the classical recording industry which in the twentieth century made the riches of music available to the masses for the first time. Chaired by Sheena Macdonald. Supported by The Bacher Trust £7.00 £5.00 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 3.00pm One of the liveliest and most important cultural critics and literary theorists in Britain, Terry Eagleton asks the big question – what is the meaning of life? – and searches philosophy and literature for the solutions. Witty, stimulating, erudite, accessible – and he even provides his own surprising answer. £7.00 £5.00 Supported by The Hawthornden Literary Retreat 8 2.30pm Childbirth is one of the most universal and fundamental experiences. Boston journalist Tina Cassidy gives a remarkable, sometimes shocking, sometimes inspiring, essential overview of the attitudes to birth through the ages; techniques, hopes, fears – the foundation of life. 11 – 27 August 2007 4.30pm One of the most startlingly brilliant young poets of the late twentieth century, Craig Raine has become a central and highly distinguished figure in British literature – playwright, librettist, editor, critic, lecturer. His recent superb work on T S Eliot opens up this supposedly ‘difficult’ poet as never before – a talk for all lovers of literature. £7.00 £5.00 adult 15/5/07 12:16 PM Page 7 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Monday 13 August 2007 Life Writing The Stem Cell Challenge Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm Everyone has a story to tell, but how do you turn it into something worth reading? Jennie Erdal, author of Ghosting: A Double Life, takes a look at life writing – distilling memories and secrets into the written word, while avoiding the pitfalls. Highland Park Spiegeltent THE WRITING BUSINESS Supported by The Society of Authors £5.00 £3.00 GENES AND SOCIETY 7.30pm – 8.45pm The swiftly evolving technology of stem cell research provides both hope and concern. Soon incurable diseases may be treatable; but what of the ethics of it all, the harvesting of the cells and the implications? Join leading philosopher Brenda Almond, a member of the Human Genetic Commission, and John Evans, visiting US thinker and academic in this field. Hear the evidence, have your say. Supported by the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series TIBET Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Today: Those who oppose the Chinese occupation of Tibet mostly live in exile. Their prose, poetry and blogs are the subject of this session. Among those appearing: Tina Cassidy. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event Gillian Galbraith & Frank Muir FIRST FICTION: CRIME Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm We are delighted to introduce two brand new voices in the vibrant Scottish crime writing scene. Glaswegian Frank Muir sets his hardbitten, gruesome Eye For An Eye in the douce streets of St Andrews. Edinburgh lawyer Gillian Galbraith sets her new Alice Rice series in the capital and has already drawn praise from Alexander McCall Smith. £5.00 £3.00 Alexander McCall Smith THE RITCHIE NEILL EVENT RBS Main Theatre 6.30pm The charm, goodness and global appeal of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency grow and grow. Alexander McCall Smith is an international publishing phenomenon, for this and his other acutely observed series set in Edinburgh itself. An hour in his company is an hour of utter delight, usually with one or two surprises... £8.00 £6.00 Laura Hird LIVED LIVES ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm One of Scotland’s most prominent young writers, famed for her gritty, blackly comic fiction, Laura Hird now brings us an immensely tender and touching memoir of her late mother. Revealing the feisty, passionate letters her mother wrote after Laura first left home, this is an incredibly moving account of grief and unconditional love. £8.00 £6.00 Duncan Glen, Alexander Hutchison & Tessa Ransford POETRY Peppers Theatre 7.00pm Three writers who have done much to underpin and support the thriving Scottish poetry scene. Tessa Ransford is founder of the Scottish Poetry Library and tireless champion of poetry itself. Saltire-shortlisted Duncan Glen has published the work of many others. Together with Alexander Hutchison, tonight they read their own work. £8.00 £6.00 Eugenio Fuentes, José Luis de Juan & Rafael Reig WRITERS OF THE WORLD Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm Come and discover the finest contemporary Spanish writing with this superb trio. All play beautifully with crime and detective genres, murder at the heart of prize-winning literary fiction of exhilarating vigour and intelligence. £5.00 £3.00 Quintin Jardine THE FACULTY OF ADVOCATES EVENT RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm Perenially popular, Quintin Jardine’s perfectly plotted DC Bob Skinner novels go from strength to strength. In the latest, Death’s Door, Skinner is pitted against a devious killer and a grieving millionaire father who may not be all he seems. Come and enjoy insights into this highly charged, fast-paced fiction – but book quickly! £8.00 £6.00 John Purser MUSIC AND SOCIETY ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm Scotland’s Music is a seminal BBC series, the first ever account of the history of our music and musicians from prehistory to the present. Many years in the making, the book is now expanded into the definitive essential volume. Meet the creator of this labour of love, John Purser, broadcaster, writer and himself a leading composer. £8.00 £6.00 Josie Dew TRAVEL Peppers Theatre 8.30pm Perhaps no one is as passionate about cycling to see the world as Josie Dew. To date she and her bike have travelled 280,000 miles across fortythree countries. Her latest adventure Long Cloud Ride takes her all over New Zealand, nine months of cycling through an astounding landscape and the wettest, stormiest year on record. £8.00 £6.00 Spiegelbar Highland Park Spiegeltent Come and relax and listen to live music. from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Free – open to all £8.00 £6.00 Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 42 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 9 adult 15/5/07 12:58 PM Page 8 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Tuesday 14 August 2007 Basil Pao Nick Cohen RBS Main Theatre 10.00am The internationally celebrated Hong Kong photographer and writer (who has worked extensively with Michael Palin) embarks on a jaw-dropping visual journey of all the provinces of China – a breathtaking and revealing record of an ancient country and its people on the brink of unimaginable change. ScottishPower Studio Theatre 2.00pm A satirical and polemical investigation of some of the lazier and crazier notions of today’s left-wing establishment, from a leading journalist who has belonged to the heart of it. In What’s Left? Nick Cohen, impeccably liberal in his background, demands to know what the left really wants and believes in these confused times. Chaired by Iain Macwhirter. £7.00 £5.00 FOCUS ON CHINA Supported by The Morton Charitable Trust £7.00 £5.00 Justin Cartwright Ghost Writing WAKE UP TO WORDS Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am A master novelist, South African-born Justin Cartwright creates fiction of outstanding quality and insight. He has been shortlisted for the Booker and the Whitbread, and won the Hawthornden Prize. His latest novel The Song Before It Is Sung tells of the execution of Hitler’s would-be assassins and the lasting impact down the generations. Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 Rahila Gupta, Don Jordan & Michael Walsh SLAVERY STORIES Peppers Theatre 11.00am The Book Festival is marking the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery: forgotten stories still urgently need to be told. Campaigning journalist Rahila Gupta reveals modern-day slavery in Britain – trafficked sex workers, illegal domestic and farm labourers, abused and exploited. Don Jordan and Michael Walsh examine the plight of white Britons sold into appalling slavery for nearly two centuries. £7.00 £5.00 Margaret Atwood POLITICS AND SOCIETY BSL MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 11.30am One of the greatest living world writers, recipient of our special Edinburgh International Book Festival Enlightenment Award, Margaret Atwood is one of our most loved visitors. Her extraordinary intelligence and wit light up her appearances. Tickets go like wildfire – book now. £7.00 £5.00 Hermione Lee WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm – 3.30pm What are the positives and negatives of ghost writing? How to get started? Jennie Erdal, author of Ghosting, examines the hidden world of the ghostwriter, and what it takes to be one. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 Iqbal Ahmed EAST AND WEST Peppers Theatre 2.30pm A gently illuminating perspective on our land – Britain as seen through the fresh eyes of Kashmiri Iqbal Ahmed. In Empire of the Mind, he journeys through Scotland and England, revealing much about our country, its culture, its people and the immigrant experience. Tender and poignant. £7.00 £5.00 Doris Lessing MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 3.00pm The utterly remarkable Doris Lessing returns, the originality of her imagination burning more brightly than ever. Her latest novel The Cleft imagines a mythical society free of men, females always giving birth to females – until a boy is born. Come and talk gender, politics and literature with one of our greatest writers. £7.00 £5.00 James Walvin SLAVERY STORIES ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon One of Britain’s most distinguished biographers brings all her perception and insight to bear on the great American novelist Edith Wharton, whose House of Mirth and Age of Innocence have become much-loved films. Hermione Lee reveals her as a startlingly modern figure with a fierce understanding of women’s lives and longings. £7.00 £5.00 ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm Continuing our series on the abolition of slavery, James Walvin brilliantly uncovers three parallel lives, illuminating the shocking reality from different, powerful perspectives: Thomas Thistlewood, a plantation owner in Jamaica; John Newton, the slave trader turned abolitionist who wrote Amazing Grace; and Olaudah Equino, a literate slave who became a key figure in the fight for abolition. £7.00 £5.00 Eva Joly & Monica Waitzfelder Michael Schmidt LIVED LIVES LAW AND SOCIETY Peppers Theatre 12.30pm Two powerful personal accounts of strong women fighting the abuse of justice by large European corporations. Norwegian-born Eva Joly, one of France’s leading judges, endured repeated death threats while prosecuting oil giant Elf Aquitaine for massive corruption. Monica Waitzfelder tells how cosmetics company L’Oreal has refused to return the family home it took over after her Jewish family fled Nazi persecution. £7.00 £5.00 LITERATURE AND CULTURE Peppers Theatre 4.00pm A one-man celebration of poetry, Michael Schmidt is publisher, professor (now at Glasgow) and brilliant narrator of the place of poetry through the ages. His indispensable The Story of Poetry has reached Volume 3 – From Pope to Burns. He has also chosen the best poets of our own times. Essential and invigorating. £7.00 £5.00 Anthony Holden The Truth About Food RBS Main Theatre 1.30pm Poker exerts a powerful hold – it has over seventy-five million regular players, four million in Britain alone. Anthony Holden, distinguished music critic and poker aficionado, returns to Las Vegas in the age of cyber poker and serious stakes, celebrities and vast tournaments. A colourful and compelling guide to a growing world. Chaired by Magnus Linklater. £7.00 £5.00 RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm Three illuminating perspectives on the world of food – fact and fiction, production, ethics, environmental impact and more. Jill Fullerton-Smith’s The Truth About Food, like the TV series she presented, clarifies the endlessly confusing information about what we eat. Hattie Ellis examines battery farming in Planet Chicken; while James Fergusson’s The Vitamin Murders shows how science has tricked consumers. FOOD AND SOCIETY POPULAR CULTURE 10 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 £7.00 £5.00 adult 15/5/07 12:17 PM Page 9 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Tuesday 14 August 2007 Translation THE WRITING BUSINESS Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm Ghosts in the machine? Creative writers? Freelancing hacks? Academic-level linguists? Literary translators need to be all these things – and more. Learn about the practicalities and principles from award-winning translator Anna Paterson (who also conducts a workshop tomorrow at 2.00pm). Supported by The Society of Authors £5.00 £3.00 Dictionary of the Unexplained Quiz THE CHAMBERS EVENT Freedoms and Fear GENES AND SOCIETY RBS Children’s Theatre 7.00pm How would you feel if your DNA profile were on a national database? Would this affect your personal freedom? How could a database of this sort benefit society? Join the Scottish Youth Parliament, human rights lawyer Piya D Muqit and Tom Nelson, Director of Forensic Services for the Scottish Police Services Authority, for a lively debate, for teens and adults, on a remarkably complex issue. Supported by the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum £3.50 Edinburgh a Living City CULTURE AND HERITAGE ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm Our Chambers quiz has become one of the most popular events of the festival – this year we exclusively launch the intriguing Dictionary of the Unexplained. Come and join in this Call My Bluff session and pit your wits against our panel, including Muriel Gray and Val McDermid, as they offer real or wildly imaginary definitions of everything from cryptozoology to ufology, from the Loch Ness Monster to the Mary Celeste. Chaired by Mark Billingham. £7.00 £5.00 Highland Park Spiegeltent 7.30pm – 8.45pm Edinburgh is a world famous city, but what are the elements that define its character? Panoramic views, outstanding architecture and a prestigious literary heritage have a part to play, but are there other ingredients? Join Charles McKean, Simon Jenkins and others to debate the essence and values of Scotland's capital city in an evolving world. Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series WRITERS OF THE WORLD PRESS FREEDOM Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Today: Journalism is one of the world's riskiest professions. We will hear Anna Politkovskaya's last essay. Among those appearing: Iain Banks. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event Gianrico Carofiglio, Saskia Noort & Martin Suter WRITERS OF THE WORLD Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm An exquisite international line-up of the finest fiction, with crime at its heart. Gianrico Carofiglio, a charismatic anti-mafia prosecuting magistrate as well as leading novelist, was a huge hit at the Book Festival last year. Saskia Noort visits from the Netherlands with her dark and stylish Dutch bestseller The Dinner Club; Swiss award-winner Martin Suter does A Deal with The Devil in an atmospheric mystery set in an Alpine village. £5.00 £3.00 Val McDermid & Denise Mina CRIME RBS Main Theatre 6.30pm The double bill from heaven. If Scotland’s thriving crime writing scene punches far above its weight, these two outstanding authors illustrate why: formidably intelligent, fantastically witty, and with a deep understanding of dark psychological complexities. Come for some insight and some great conversation too. £8.00 £6.00 Anna Del Conte THE VALVONA & CROLLA EVENT ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm An irresistible event for lovers of Italy and lovers of food. Anna Del Conte here shares her passion for the recipes of her homeland and the way they reflect Italian society, history, geography and culture. Hear too about her own life in Italy and London. Chaired by Mary Contini. £8.00 £6.00 Graeme Gibson NATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT Peppers Theatre 7.00pm When Margaret Atwood and her husband Graeme Gibson were last at the Book Festival, we previewed the beautiful and captivating Bedside Book of Birds, showing the potent place of birds in our culture and collective imaginings. Graeme Gibson is now at work on a book of beasts. Come and share his love of the natural world. £8.00 £6.00 In association with Edinburgh World Heritage £8.00 £6.00 Thomas Legendre & Alan Pauls Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm Powerful, intoxicating voices from North and South America – tales of men in search of new lives. Argentinian Alan Pauls has taken the Spanish-speaking world by storm with his novel The Past – being filmed by Hector Babenco (Kiss of The Spider Woman) starring Gael García Bernal. Thomas Legendre, an American living in Edinburgh, has had huge praise for his debut The Burning, set in the Arizona desert. £5.00 £3.00 Iain Banks THE NAPIER UNIVERSITY EVENT RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm Perenially youthful, his imagination ablaze, Iain Banks continues to be one of the most distinctive and popular of all contemporary Scottish novelists. The Steep Approach To Garbadale is full of his usual wit and effortless storytelling. Join one of the liveliest minds for some great conversation. £8.00 £6.00 Whisky Tasting THE HIGHLAND PARK EVENT Party Pavilion 8.00pm A very special tutored whisky tasting with Highland Park, taking you through the different characters of their fine single malts from the Orkney Islands. There will be a very rare opportunity to taste the unique limited edition Rebus20 whisky, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Inspector Rebus novels. Ian Rankin will introduce the tasting and explain how and why he chose the whisky. £8.00 £6.00 Mark Billingham CRIME ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm Now a top Book Festival favourite, Mark Billingham combines a career as a stand-up comic with that of being Britain’s fastest selling crime writer. His brand new book Death Message is a chilling portrayal of a murderer with nothing left to lose. £8.00 £6.00 Sven Lindqvist TRAVEL Peppers Theatre 8.30pm One of Sweden’s most original cultural thinkers, Sven Lindqvist’s subjects have ranged from a history of bombing to the colonial legacy in the African desert. In Terra Nullius he returns to vast spaces, this time Australian, travelling the outback, unearthing the history of the Aborigines, giving us the extraordinary geology and tragic human history of ‘no one’s land’. £8.00 £6.00 Spiegelbar Highland Park Spiegeltent from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Come and relax and listen to live music. Free – open to all Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 43 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 11 adult 21/5/07 5:31 PM Page 10 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Wednesday 15 August 2007 Marista Leishman with Richard Holloway LIVED LIVES RBS Main Theatre 10.00am The daughter of Lord Reith, founder of the BBC, gives a devastatingly honest insight into the volcanic contradictions of the giant figure (in all senses) who was a media legend but whose personal life was complex, damaged and dramatic. £7.00 £5.00 John Herdman, Michael Holman & Paul Torday WAKE UP TO WORDS Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am Amusing and involving fiction from three distinctive talents. Scottish author John Herdman is hugely admired by those in the know. His latest volume of stories, My Wife’s Lovers, showing the surreal reach of his imagination, has been greatly praised. Paul Torday’s Salmon Fishing In the Yemen is one of the year’s most original debuts. Michael Holman’s warmly witty African tales have been compared to Alexander McCall Smith. Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 Jeffrey Kluger & Nassim Nicholas Taleb BUSINESS MATTERS Peppers Theatre 12.30pm Two startling new ways of thinking, to change the way you work and view your life, from two influential American writers. Jeffrey Kluger’s Simplexity explains the cutting edge theory that very complex processes may be built on simplicity and vice versa – a new assessment of the building blocks of life. Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s The Black Swan shows the extraordinary impact of improbable events – and how resistant we are to imagining the impossible. £7.00 £5.00 John Sutherland LIVED LIVES ScottishPower Studio Theatre 2.00pm The Boy Who Loved Books is a lucid and moving account of a disrupted childhood saved and salved by the written word. John Sutherland, eminent academic, author and commentator, was brought up by various relatives after his father was killed in the war and his mother left for a new lover. Social change and love of literature compellingly explored. £7.00 £5.00 John Adamson Translating Fiction HISTORY ScottishPower Studio Theatre 10.30am A resonant period of our island's history superbly evoked – a look back to beyond the period of the Union, when a crisis engulfed the Stuart kingdoms. In The Noble Revolt John Adamson uncovers the turbulent years in Scotland and England of the overthrow of Charles I and the Reformation. £7.00 £5.00 Alan Spence WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm – 3.30pm What are the possibilities and pitfalls in translating literary fiction? What opportunities exist? Join experienced translator Anna Paterson. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 Martin Goodman JEWS IN THE WORLD FINE FICTION Peppers Theatre 11.00am One of the best-loved and quietly skilful of all contemporary Scottish writers, Alan Spence, director of Aberdeen’s Word Festival, looks upon the world with fresh and perceptive eyes. His latest novel The Pure Land, drawn from his deep love of the East, tells of the Aberdonian who helped to found modern Japan. £7.00 £5.00 Ruth Rendell in Conversation with Ian Rankin BSL MEET THE AUTHOR Peppers Theatre 2.30pm The origins of anti-semitism are given a startling new explanation by a superb historian. Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations argues that the Romans were tolerant towards Jews until political decisions, rather than theological or cultural hatreds, sowed the seeds of two millennia of Western anti-Semitism. £7.00 £5.00 Maria Misra, Jon Nicholson & Alex Von Tunzelmann FOCUS ON INDIA RBS Main Theatre 11.30am One of the finest exponents of intelligent crime writing at work today, Ruth Rendell is one of the UK’s foremost literary figures. Her work – including the brand new Not In The Flesh, her latest murder mystery featuring Chief Inspector Wexford – is cool, measured and captivating. Come and meet an artist at the height of her powers. RBS Main Theatre 3.00pm Continuing our celebration of today’s anniversary of Indian independence, we have a powerful triple bill to mark the occasion. Maria Misra is a leading historian of the modern Indian state. Jon Nicholson’s gorgeous photographic Ganges charts the great holy river; while Alex Von Tunzelmann, a talented new young historian, details the last days of the Raj with narrative verve and flair. Supported by the Hawthornden Literary Retreat £7.00 £5.00 £7.00 £5.00 Marina Warner Julian Rathbone LITERATURE AND CULTURE FOCUS ON INDIA ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon Today marks the anniversary of the 60th anniversary of Indian independence, and our day of special events starts with a look back at the relations between the British Empire and the Indians in the lead-up to the Delhi Mutiny. Julian Rathbone’s novel of a star-crossed love affair movingly and precisely illuminates the colourful and tragic history of the period. £7.00 £5.00 12 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm The myths of the past, present and future are brought into dazzling light by Marina Warner. Explaining the deep power of fairy tales, the role of ghosts and monsters, she offers revelatory insight in all her work. Phantasmagoria looks at spirits and how we portray them, from the Enlightenment to the new media world of the twenty-first century. £7.00 £5.00 adult 21/5/07 5:20 PM Page 11 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Wednesday 15 August 2007 Ethel G Hofman & Martin Jones Lin Anderson & Alanna Knight Peppers Theatre 4.00pm Meals cement and shape our relationships, in families and communities. In Mackerel At Midnight Ethel G Hofman remembers with great fondness growing up Jewish in Shetland, and the food, Jewish and island, which enshrined that experience. Martin Jones’s fascinating Feast looks at why humans have evolved to share food, and what it means. £7.00 £5.00 Peppers Theatre 7.00pm Settle back and enjoy these two leading tale-spinners on the Scottish crime scene. Lin Anderson is gathering great acclaim across the UK for her series featuring forensic scientist Rhona Macleod, of which the latest is Dark Flight. Alanna Knight has written over forty books of impeccable historical detail and sense of place. £8.00 £6.00 FOOD AND SOCIETY The Future of Libraries UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN EVENT RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm Libraries have preserved our words, culture and intellectual heritage for centuries. What is their role in the modern world of the internet, Google and digitisation? Who uses them now? How will they serve the communities of the future? What do they mean to writers and their work? Join Margaret Atwood and John Sutherland in this perfect event for all book-lovers. £7.00 £5.00 Fantasy Writing THE WRITING BUSINESS Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm Fantasy author Deborah J Miller discusses the pros and cons of being a genre author – from the difficulties of working in a small sub-set of the industry (with diminishing numbers of genre agents and publishers) to the joys of being a part of the SFF community. CRIME Changing Climate, Changing World THE OPEN UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENT SERIES Highland Park Spiegeltent 7.30pm – 8.45pm A major discussion on global warming and environmental catastrophe. Tony Juniper, executive director of Friends of the Earth, explains what we can do as individuals. Michael Northcott examines the new ethics – the impact our actions have on the global community on a fragile planet. David Strahan sounds a different warning – the end of oil and what it means for our society. £8.00 £6.00 Rebecca Gowers FIRST FICTION £5.00 £3.00 Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm Comical, unpredictable, eccentric and entrancing: When To Walk by Rebecca Gowers is one of the year’s most characterful and pleasurable debuts. Come and discover a fresh, funny new literary voice and a rising young star in fiction. £5.00 £3.00 Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series Alice Munro live from Canada with Margaret Atwood Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Today: Bereft of the inspiration of their homelands, writers in exile often struggle to express themselves in new languages and new surroundings. We are joined by a Palestinian exile, the poet Iyad Hayatleh and Antonia Swinson. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm One of the most extraordinary events ever to take place at the Book Festival – an interview and book signing with the two legendary worldleading figures of Canadian writing, one on either side of the Atlantic. Margaret Atwood in Edinburgh will interview the great Alice Munro in Canada, arguably the finest living story writer. She will sign a limited number of books using Atwood’s remarkable invention, the LongPen – a long distance link-up which allows the author to sign no matter the distance. Breathtaking technology, breathtaking literature. £8.00 £6.00 Supported by The Society of Authors WRITERS IN EXILE Angus Dunn & Mark McNay FIRST FICTION Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm Two starkly contrasting debut Scottish novelists. Mark McNay had already won a major prize for Fresh before publication. Set in a chicken factory, it is urban, demotic, naturalistic and not for the queasy of stomach. Angus Dunn, an important figure in writing in the Highlands for many years, sets an atmospheric fantasy in the rural north in Writing In The Sand. £5.00 £3.00 Charles Spencer THE TURCAN CONNELL EVENT RBS Main Theatre 6.30pm A vivid depiction of a swashbuckling cavalier, scientist and scholar, from the brother of Diana, Princess of Wales – a leading and accomplished historian and respected author. Charles Spencer evokes the colourful figure of Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the young, dashing expert horseman who fought for King Charles I. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. £8.00 £6.00 Jon Ronson FAMILY AND SOCIETY ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm One of the quirkiest, wittiest most original columnists in the country, Jon Ronson has investigated extremists and strange military schemes in his engaging, disturbing books. Out of The Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness brings together his musings on his own family dynamics and the bizarre minefields of modern life. £8.00 £6.00 THE LONGPEN EVENT Christopher Rush LIVED LIVES ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm A childhood by the North Sea in a fishing village of Fife informs much of Christopher Rush’s work, including the acclaimed film Venus Peter. Hellfire and Herring evokes that boyhood of a bygone age with high lyricism – a hymn to Scottish upbringing with, as one reviewer said, ‘salt water in its veins’. £8.00 £6.00 Paddy Docherty & Edna Fernandes FOCUS ON INDIA Peppers Theatre 8.30pm Our Indian anniversary day concludes with two dramatic accounts. Paddy Docherty has walked the Khyber Pass, the narrow mountain route which has shaped civilisations – he tells of its colourful history and its lawless present sheltering terrorists and religious fanatics. Edna Fernandes reveals some of those fanatics and competing sects in Holy Warriors, a journey to the heart of Indian fundamentalism. £8.00 £6.00 Spiegelbar Highland Park Spiegeltent Come and relax and listen to live music. from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Free – open to all Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 44 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 13 adult 21/5/07 5:21 PM Page 12 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Thursday 16 August 2007 Trezza Azzopardi, Sue Gee & Joan Lingard Andrew Alderson & Neil Mackay EAST AND WEST WAKE UP TO WORDS Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am A triple bill of three superb novelists. Welsh writer Trezza Azzopardi was Booker shortlisted for her first novel. Winterton Blue, set by the Norfolk coast, confirms her gifts. Sue Gee writes about love of books in Reading In Bed; while Edinburgh’s own Joan Lingard also sees love through the prism of reading and libraries in After You’ve Gone. Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Peppers Theatre 12.30pm Two provocative perspectives on Iraq. In Bankrolling Basra Andrew Alderson, former director of a merchant bank, suddenly found himself in charge of running a large section of Iraq’s economy. Dramatic, personal, funny and terrifying. Investigative journalist Neil Mackay explains the real and shocking roots of the invasion in The War On Truth. £7.00 £5.00 £7.00 £5.00 Will Hutton Robert Lacey THE IAN DICKSON TRAVEL SERVICE EVENT HISTORY ScottishPower Studio Theatre 10.30am History, or rather our own recent significant past, comes alive with Robert Lacey – immaculate research combined with an eye for a cracking story. His history of Britain comes bang up to date with Great Tales: The Battle of the Boyne to DNA. How will posterity view the twentieth century and the speeded-up dawn of the third millennium? £7.00 £5.00 Jenna Bailey & Lawrence James HISTORY Peppers Theatre £7.00 £5.00 Lindsey Davis FINE FICTION 11.00am The middle class has been central to the shaping of British society. Lawrence James’s magnificent narrative history is both scholarly and entertaining; while Jenna Bailey’s Can Any Mother Help Me? is the utterly involving story of those women in the 1930s who supported each other through a private magazine of correspondence – intimate social history. £7.00 £5.00 ScottishPower Studio Theatre 2.00pm The goddess of Roman crime returns. Ancient history, humour and supreme storytelling skill crowd the pages of Lindsey Davis’s bestselling and unfailingly well-researched, hugely entertaining work. Her latest, Saturnalia, has all her beloved hallmarks. £7.00 £5.00 Marina Benjamin JEWS IN THE WORLD Creating Success WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat RBS Main Theatre 1.30pm Who better to illumine the implications of China’s meteoric progress towards becoming a pre-eminent world superpower than Will Hutton, one of the leading analysts of the state, and states, of our world? The Writing On The Wall: China and the West in the 21st Century tells us what we need urgently to understand. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. 11.00am – 12.30pm Whatever the form of your writing, you can build the self-belief, resilience and the trust in your intuition, you need to succeed. Move through any blocks and generate the energy of success for your writing. With renowned teacher and author Patricia Cleghorn. (Maximum 20 places). Peppers Theatre 2.30pm Last Days in Babylon: the Story of the Jews of Baghdad is one woman’s family story of the removal of what was once the most significant group in the Iraqi capital. Marina Benjamin’s grandmother was among those persecuted and expelled by a hostile regime; while investigating, the writer rediscovered her own submerged identity. £7.00 £5.00 £10.00 £8.00 Kate Atkinson Clive James BSL THE MURRAY BEITH MURRAY EVENT MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 11.30am The glorious intelligence, verve, wit and fiendish plotting of Kate Atkinson’s work gladden the heart in every way. Whitbread and Saltire winner, internationally fêted, she goes from strength to strength. Her most recent novel, One Good Turn, celebrates Edinburgh itself, at festival time. Come and meet a true literary star. £7.00 £5.00 Mark Lynas & Bill McGuire RBS Main Theatre 3.00pm A consummate performer and a massive brain, Clive James is a true Book Festival star. With wit and erudition, he captivates his capacity audiences. His latest work, Cultural Amnesia, is nothing less than a personal tour of the seminal figures of twentieth century culture, the thinkers who prepared the times in which we now live. Chaired by Janice Forsyth of BBC Radio Scotland’s The Radio Café. £7.00 £5.00 Richard Schoch & Stuart Sim THE WWF EVENT ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon Mark Lynas, one of the most important young thinkers on climate change and Bill McGuire, Director of the Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre, set out the threat to our planet from global warming and what we can do to address it now. Come and hear the sobering facts and the solutions. £7.00 £5.00 MATTERS OF THE MIND ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm What is happiness? Richard Schoch looks back over three thousand years of philosophical and religious traditions to discover when and why we decided we had the right to be happy. Stuart Sim thinks it might have something to do with silence: the need for it in an increasingly noisy and over-assertive world of marketing and static. £7.00 £5.00 14 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 adult 15/5/07 12:20 PM Page 13 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Thursday 16 August 2007 John Lanchester & Sofka Zinovieff Alex Gray & Aline Templeton Peppers Theatre 4.00pm What happens when you discover your mother was a nun? Or that your grandmother was a princess turned communist who placed sexual freedom before her children? In these compelling family tales, John Lanchester gently unearths his mother’s secrets, while Sofka Zinovieff charts a dramatic Russian life which maps the upheavals of last century. £7.00 £5.00 Peppers Theatre 7.00pm Two more magnificent mistresses of crime each with a rapidly growing readership. Alex Gray’s The Riverman looks at the secrets concealed by a body fished from the Clyde; Aline Templeton’s Laying Dead also deals with drowning in a typically deftly plotted narrative. £8.00 £6.00 What’s New in Publishing? EAST AND WEST LIVED LIVES THE WRITING BUSINESS Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm Digitalisation, print on demand, all manner of new web-based initiatives – publishing is changing very fast, offering all kinds of new possibilities. Come and hear about the latest advances from The Society of Authors’ Kate Pool. Supported by The Society of Authors £5.00 £3.00 Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series KURDISTAN Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Today: Though their homeland is divided between Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey, the Kurdish people share a language and cultural identity. Today we hear from their poets and writers. Among those appearing: Richard Schoch and David Pratt. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event Steven Hall & Jenny Turner FIRST FICTION Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm One of the most extraordinary debuts of recent years, Steven Hall’s The Raw Shark Texts is an enthrallingly original roller-coaster ride through language, identity, memory, unspace and Jaws. Constantly surprising, this is a heady and enlivening journey into the unknown. Indecently talented Scottish journalist Jenny Turner’s The Brainstorm explores what happens when a journalist loses her memory and looks with fresh eyes on life, London and the rat-race rush to get rich. £5.00 £3.00 Ian Rankin THE RBS EVENT RBS Main Theatre 6.30pm There is no more popular author at the Book Festival than Ian Rankin, Scottish genius of crime and genial raconteur. The UK’s biggest selling crime author, recipient of countless awards, his events are a constant delight. In an exclusive Book Festival preview he here tantalisingly reveals something of the forthcoming final Inspector Rebus novel. Chaired by Magnus Linklater. £8.00 £6.00 Tracy Chevalier & Maggie O’Farrell FINE FICTION ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm Two novelists who combine bestselling popularity with prodigious intelligence and insight. Tracy Chevalier’s Girl With A Pearl Earring was a deservedly massive success; Burning Bright, about William Blake, shows all the same gifts. Maggie O’Farrell beautifully evokes a life lost and reclaimed in The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. £8.00 £6.00 CRIME Jews and Arabs in the Middle East Highland Park Spiegeltent 7.30pm – 8.45pm Join two leading foreign correspondents as they discuss the complexities of Israel and Palestine. David Pratt is the award-winning foreign editor of the Sunday Herald; his Intifada is an essential first-hand account of the Palestinian uprising. Adam LeBor’s City of Oranges illuminates how the human stories of Jews and Arabs in Jaffa act as microcosm and magnifying lens for the troubled Middle East. £8.00 £6.00 Jennifer McCartney & Lesley McDowell FIRST FICTION Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm Superb first fiction from Scotland and from Canada. Jennifer McCartney’s Afloat beautifully evokes a deceptively idyllic summer on a Lake Michigan island. Lesley McDowell, leading Scottish literary journalist, steps into fiction with The Picnic – also set in Canada, it looks at exile and emigration, mothers and daughters and the haunting power of memory. £5.00 £3.00 Ballads of the Book THE SCOTTISHPOWER EVENT RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm An all-star line up celebrating one of the year’s most groundbreaking creative projects, where leading Scottish writers wrote lyrics for leading musicians. The resultant songs are individual, beautiful and sometimes heartbreaking. What was it like for those involved? Join Ali Smith, Louise Welsh, A L Kennedy, Alan Bissett and Rodge Glass alongside Roddy Woomble of Idlewild, Emma Pollock formerly of The Delgados and other friends for a night of words and music to remember. In association with Young Scot £8.00 £6.00 Mary Contini & Beppe Severgnini FOCUS ON ITALY ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm Italy illuminated in two intensely affectionate accounts. Edinburgh’s own Mary Contini tells in Dear Olivia of that generation of her family who left their culture and home to come to Scotland. Beppe Severgnini, leading journalist, provides a field guide to the Italian mind and all the joyous contradictions of his country in La Bella Figura. £8.00 £6.00 Diana Souhami TRAVEL Peppers Theatre 8.30pm Coconut Chaos: Pitcairn, Mutiny and A Seduction At Sea... is a remarkable voyage in every way. Whitbread award-winning Diana Souhami uncovers the unfolding connections between Fletcher Christian taking one coconut aboard the Bounty, and the plight of the islanders today. Chaos theory meets the finest travel writing. £8.00 £6.00 Spiegelbar Highland Park Spiegeltent Come and relax and listen to live music. from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Free – open to all Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 45 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 15 adult 15/5/07 12:35 PM Page 14 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Friday 17 August 2007 Tessa Hadley & Claire Keegan Adam LeBor Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am Let these sublime short stories, pitch-perfect and revealing of entire lives, transform the rest of your day. Irish writer Claire Keegan’s Walk the Blue Fields shows the truth in the comparisons made with world masters John McGahern and Alistair MacLeod. Tessa Hadley’s Sunstroke is beautifully understated and disturbing. Peppers Theatre 12.30pm A devastating indictment of the UN’s failure to confront and prevent genocide by a leading commentator. Complicity With Evil is a meticulously researched, powerfully argued critique of UN inaction and expediency, which allowed the massacres in Rwanda and Srebrenica to proceed unchecked, with the same catastrophic pattern now unfolding in Darfur. Adam LeBor calls for the UN to take an urgent moral lead. WAKE UP TO WORDS Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 LIVED LIVES EAST AND WEST ScottishPower Studio Theatre 10.30am The second of our events in which Britain and its people are viewed through the enquiring eyes of an incomer – here Pakistani-born Imran Ahmad, who arrived as a two year-old. Unimagined is a touching, funny and astute memoir, one culture meeting another and shedding new light. Scotland (where the author attended Stirling University) is viewed with great affection. £7.00 £5.00 RBS Main Theatre 1.30pm Robert Peel was one of the great British Prime Ministers – creator of the modern police force, introducer of income tax, repealer of the Corn Laws. Former Home and Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd, sometimes described as a modern-day Peel, revealingly examines the man and his legacy. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. £7.00 £5.00 Claire Tomalin LIVED LIVES Philippe Legrain & Paul Mason GLOBAL WORLD Peppers Theatre 11.00am A major event in our series on globalisation, the movement of peoples and business in our increasingly unified planet – for good or for ill. Philippe Legrain, brilliant analyst and communicator argues that we need the diverse immigrants to our shores. Paul Mason, Newsnight correspondent, looks at how the working class and their history of defiance and idealism went global. £7.00 £5.00 Writing and Contracts WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 11.00am – 12.30pm What does an aspiring or published writer need to know about contracts, copyright, royalties and so on? Kate Pool from The Society of Authors offers essential, practical information and advice. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 BSL MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 11.30am One of the finest and most prodigiously intelligent writers of our time, Michael Frayn is renowned as a playwright (Noises Off, Copenhagen) and novelist. In his remarkable latest non-fiction work The Human Touch he turns to the ideas which underlie his work and to brilliant, funny philosophical questions about our universe; glorious sustenance for the mind. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. Supported by the Hawthornden Literary Retreat £7.00 £5.00 Simon Sebag Montefiore ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon What was one of history’s greatest mass-murderers like as a child? What led to him becoming brutal dictator and violent shaper of history? Simon Sebag Montefiore is the renowned chronicler of Stalin’s life and has conducted entirely new research into his early years which sheds startling new light on the man regarded as a monster. £7.00 £5.00 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L ScottishPower Studio Theatre 2.00pm One of the finest biographers of our age, Whitbread and James Tait Black winner Claire Tomalin turns her lucid attention to Thomas Hardy, great nineteenth century novelist and great twentieth century poet – a complex life on the cusp of the modern age. £7.00 £5.00 Writing and Inspiration WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm – 3.30pm Learn how to get in touch with your vision for your writing. Feel inspired to write and be creative! This is a practical meditation-based workshop with renowned teacher and author Patricia Cleghorn. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 Lucy Ellmann & Marina Lewycka FINE FICTION Peppers Theatre 2.30pm Fiction brimming with wit and fire from two of Britain’s most distinctive talents. Marina Lewycka’s debut A Short History of Tractors In Ukrainian was a runaway success; Two Caravans, about immigrant strawberry pickers, has all the same energy and humour, with a hard political edge. Lucy Ellmann’s wayward vitriolic genius is in full force in Doctors and Nurses: not to be read in hospital. £7.00 £5.00 James Kelman MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 3.00pm The single most influential Scottish novelist of modern times, and Scotland’s only Booker winner, James Kelman’s profound, philosophical and distinctive fiction has given voice to forgotten and marginalised communities. This year sees the reissue of his groundbreaking early work. A major literary event. £7.00 £5.00 Liz Lochhead HISTORY 16 £7.00 £5.00 Douglas Hurd Imran Ahmad Michael Frayn NATIONS UNLIMITED LITERATURE AND CULTURE ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm The great Canadian writer Alice Munro (who is descended from the great Scottish writer James Hogg) is present at the Book Festival this summer in various forms: through video-conferencing, long distance booksigning and also in the passion and enthusiasm of Liz Lochhead. Our most beloved poet explains why Alice Munro’s stories matter so much. £7.00 £5.00 11 – 27 August 2007 adult 21/5/07 5:23 PM Page 15 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Friday 17 August 2007 David Dabydeen Louise Welsh Peppers Theatre 4.00pm The hidden or forgotten history of black Britain – from African auxiliaries in the Roman army to footballers and leading figures of the present – is related by leading novelist and academic David Dabydeen, one of the editors of The Oxford Companion to Black British History. Essential and timely in the anniversary of the abolition of slavery. £7.00 £5.00 ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm An hour with Louise Welsh is an hour of delight. One of the leading Scottish writers of her generation, her latest work The Bullet Trick – about an ageing Glaswegian conjuror in decadent Berlin – is filled with magic and darkness . £8.00 £6.00 MULTICULTURAL COUNTRY The Economics of Publishing THE WRITING BUSINESS Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm Where does the money really go? How and how much do publishers pay authors, what happens when book prices are heavily discounted, who works out royalties? Come and have an inside look at the economics of books, with author Keith A Charters. Supported by The Society of Authors £5.00 £3.00 Deborah Moggach & Owen Sheers FINE FICTION ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm War’s impact on society explored. Deborah Moggach’s remarkable career includes the screenplay for Pride and Prejudice and the bestselling Tulip Fever. In The Dark looks at a community in the First World War. Owen Sheers, dazzlingly multi-talented writer, sets his first novel Resistance in a Welsh valley in the Second World War. £7.00 £5.00 Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series THE PRICE OF FREEDOM Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Marking eighty years of the work of Scottish PEN and looking at the price writers, editors and publishers pay for exercising their right to freedom of expression. Among those appearing: Paul Mason. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event Lars Saabye Christensen &Maria Peura WRITERS OF THE WORLD Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm A first-class Nordic double bill, with Norway’s leading novelist and a remarkable new voice from Finland. Lars Saabye Christensen’s The Half Brother was a vast international bestseller; The Model looks at an artist’s obsession. We are delighted to be launching Maria Peura’s At The Edge of Light, a tale of a girl’s coming of age in the north of Lapland. £5.00 £3.00 Nicola Barry THE SCRA EVENT RBS Children’s Theatre 6.00pm A touching memoir and inspiring account of a family destroyed by alcohol. A picture-perfect family with professional parents and successful children were torn apart by a destructive battle with addiction. Join leading journalist Nicola Barry for a poignant event, wrought with humour, about her family’s struggle and her ultimate triumph over alcoholism. SCRA (Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration) is the national body that works with partners to provide a system of child protection and youth justice throughout Scotland. £7.00 £5.00 Brian Patten MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 6.30pm One of the most beloved, accessible and popular poets writing today. It is forty years since Brian Patten helped found the Mersey Poets with Roger McGough and in the ensuing decades he has been at the forefront of poetry (including wonderfully tender love poetry) for adults and for children. Come and meet a British national treasure. £8.00 £6.00 FINE FICTION Anita Amirrezvani & Tahmima Anam WRITERS OF THE WORLD Peppers Theatre 7.00pm Old Iran and the new state of Bangladesh come alive in two luminous, involving debut novels by young women writers. Anita Amirrezvani’s The Blood of Flowers, suffused with the scents and vivid colours of Isfahan, tells of a fatherless girl desperate to enter the men’s world of master carpetmakers. Tahmima Anam’s A Golden Age also touches on how women survive tragic upheavals – in this case, the Bangladesh War of Independence. £8.00 £6.00 Immigration and a Multicultural Society MULTICULTURAL COUNTRY Highland Park Spiegeltent 7.30pm – 8.45pm Just how does Britain treat those perceived as ‘other’ or who arrive from other shores – as they always have throughout our history? Is our mongrel nation still mired in unhelpful prejudice and if so, what does that mean for our future? Join our panel including brilliant thinker Philippe Legrain and add to the debate. £8.00 £6.00 Javier Cercas & Alexis Stamatis WRITERS OF THE WORLD Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm The finest writing from Spain and from Greece. Internationally renowned Javier Cercas tells a haunting tale in The Speed of Light of an aspiring provincial Spanish writer who becomes obsessed with a Vietnam vet and his dark secrets. Alexis Stamatis also writes of obsession with another’s secret in his compelling literary mystery, Bar Flaubert. £5.00 £3.00 Alexander McCall Smith THE DM HALL EVENT RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm The final chance for this festival to bask and glow in the company of the most congenial, gentle and charming world-bestselling, international publishing phenomenon on the planet. Writing about Botswana or Edinburgh’s New Town, Alexander McCall Smith restores faith in the essential goodness of life. £8.00 £6.00 Alan Warner THE LIST EVENT ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm An immensely welcome visit from one of Scotland’s most dizzyingly talented and original writers, now living in Spain where his last extraordinary novel, The Worms Can Carry Me to Heaven, is set. Ever since his debut Morvern Callar, Alan Warner has entranced with the scope and ambition of his literary vision. Chaired by Janice Forsyth of BBC Radio Scotland’s The Radio Café. £8.00 £6.00 Antonia Swinson NATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT Peppers Theatre 8.30pm You Are What You Grow: Life, Land and the Pursuit of Happiness is a wonderful series of reflections on contemporary life sparked by Antonia Swinson’s love affair with her allotment. Based round her very popular columns, it is inspiring, practical and thought-provoking in equal measure. £8.00 £6.00 Spiegelbar Highland Park Spiegeltent Come and relax and listen to live music. from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Free – open to all Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 46 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 17 adult 15/5/07 12:36 PM Page 16 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Saturday 18 August 2007 Don Paterson & Robin Robertson WAKE UP TO WORDS Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am Two of the finest poets writing anywhere, both Scots, and who have between them gathered most major poetry awards in the UK. Robin Robertson’s haunting Swithering and Don Paterson’s masterly new versions of Rilke’s sonnets to Orpheus will awake and inhabit your mind. Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 Ali Smith Peppers Theatre 2.30pm Meet three award-winning bestsellers from Denmark. Morten Ramsland’s Doghead is a glorious tale of eccentric generations of a family – funny, energetic and fresh. Leif Davidsen is a major international figure for his political thrillers, including The Serbian Dane. Janne Teller’s Odin’s Island is a compelling mix of ancient folklore and political satire, deeply relevant to issues of religious identity and freedom of speech. £7.00 £5.00 Peppers Theatre 11.00am One of the writers Ali Smith most loves is Tove Jansson, the Finnish creator of the Moomins who also wrote limpid and beautiful work for adults. The Summer Book and A Winter Book were huge hits; now Ali introduces Jansson’s wonderful last novel Fair Play, translated into English for the first time, and explains what we have been missing until now. £7.00 £5.00 Writing and Rejection WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 11.00am – 12.30pm The psychology of rejection – don’t despair! What happens if your book or idea for a book is knocked back? A look at the personal impact of rejection, how to place this in perspective and discovering what will personally keep you going. With author, playwright and psychotherapist Caroline Dunford. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 BSL THE TIMES EVENT RBS Main Theatre 11.30am Provocative, opinionated and fiercely intelligent, Germaine Greer is never less than invigorating. Her immense literary knowledge and views on the position of women in society combine in her brand new book on Ann Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife. A revealing social history of the time. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. £7.00 £5.00 Janice Galloway & Alan Warner SCOTTISH LITERATURE ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon Alan Warner and Janice Galloway are not only two of Scotland’s most startlingly gifted writers, they are also generous enablers and encouragers of others. A wonderful new venture, the Long Lunch Press publishes new work from both little known and well established writers. Come along and uncover some surprises. £7.00 £5.00 Nick Groom & Aidan Smith NATIONS UNLIMITED: THE UNION Peppers Theatre 12.30pm Flags and football can be powerful symbols of the relations between nations. Nick Groom gives a masterly study of the Union Jack, its historical genesis and its iconic status. Leading Scottish journalist Aidan Smith’s Union Jock: Sleeping With the Auld Enemy wittily explores the long-standing rivalry between Scotland and England. £7.00 £5.00 THE SCOTTISHPOWER EVENT RBS Main Theatre 3.00pm The renowned political singer engages in a passionate search for a meaningful and positive national identity in The Progressive Patriot, his eloquent response to the events of 7 July 2005 in London, when British citizens chose to kill and maim innocent others. He searches for his own values and a proper sense of belonging. Chaired by Iain Macwhirter. £7.00 £5.00 Hari Kunzru FINE FICTION ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm We are delighted to launch the latest novel by one of the most intelligent and insightful writers of his generation, Hari Kunzru, named as one of Granta’s Best Of Young British Novelists. My Revolutions brilliantly uncovers the continuing eddies from the post-1968 radical generation, now approaching sedate middle age. £7.00 £5.00 Elaine Feinstein & Mimi Khalvati POETRY Peppers Theatre 4.00pm Two magnificent poets of rich maturity. Elaine Feinstein, novelist and critic, writes of mourning in Talking To The Dead, a passionate and personal elegy for her late husband after a long marriage. Iranian-born Mimi Khalvati’s The Meanest Flower is song-like lyric poetry, drawing on traditional forms including the Persian ghazal. £7.00 £5.00 A C Grayling MATTERS OF THE MIND RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm One of the most illuminating and engaging of all our philosophers, A C Grayling has become an outstanding Book Festival favourite. His impossibly large brain, brilliantly accessible communication and passionate desire to engage with the questions which matter – how should we lead our lives? – make an hour in his company essential and inspiring. £7.00 £5.00 How to Read a Poem THE WRITING BUSINESS Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm Want to get to grips with poetry? Ruth Padel is not only a major poet in her own right, she is also one of the best of all guides to the form. Join her for some close reading, as she explains how really to read and get the most out of a poem. £5.00 £3.00 WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm – 3.30pm Stories need special skills, special planning and special structures. Hands-on advice from award-winning Linda Cracknell who won the Macallan / Scotland On Sunday Short Story Competition in 1999, and has had two collections published, as well as broadcast on BBC Radio 4. (Maximum 20 places). In association with Arvon tutors at Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre £10.00 £8.00 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L Billy Bragg In association with the Scottish Poetry Library. Supported by The Society of Authors How to Write Short Stories 18 WRITERS OF THE WORLD Part of the Danish Tour 2007, supported by the Danish Arts Council FINE FICTION Germaine Greer Leif Davidsen, Morten Ramsland & Janne Teller 11 – 27 August 2007 Timothy Phillips THE ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA MEMORIAL EVENT ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm The unthinkably appalling events which took place in Beslan on the first day of the school year in 2004 will never leave the memory. Over 1,200 people were taken hostage; five days later 360, many of them young children, were dead. In this intensely moving account, Timothy Phillips, Russian expert and BBC translator, uncovers the roots of Chechen terrorism and the ancient hostilities which led to such tragedy. £7.00 £5.00 adult 15/5/07 12:37 PM Page 17 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Saturday 18 August 2007 Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series Peter Oram, Valentina Polukhina & Daniel Weissbort FOCUS ON RUSSIA THE PRICE OF FREEDOM Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Marking eighty years of the work of Scottish PEN and looking at the price writers, editors and publishers pay for exercising their right to freedom of expression. Among those appearing: Leif Davidsen and Colin Thubron. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event K O Dahl & Jo Nesbø 7.30pm A unique insight into the great figures of Russia’s golden literary age of the twentieth century and how they maintained contact by writing poems in homage to one another. Contemporary Russian poets introduce this extraordinary work, some translated for the first time. Chaired by Elaine Feinstein. £5.00 £3.00 Colin Thubron WRITERS OF THE WORLD Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm The very finest in Norwegian crime writing, Jo Nesbø is musician, economist and author of superbly plotted crime narratives, featuring detective Harry Hole, which have been voted Norway’s best ever. K O Dahl is equally lauded and in The Fourth Man he sets a complex psychological thriller in contemporary Oslo. £5.00 £3.00 The Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book Awards TRAVEL RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm Arguably the greatest living travel writer, Colin Thubron combines adventurous travelling to remote and complex regions (with no camera, only notebooks) with exquisite prose. Shadow Of The Silk Road is a masterpiece, covering 7,000 miles of ancient Asia in modern ferment – his most ambitious journey yet. £8.00 £6.00 Timothy Neat SCOTTISH LITERATURE RBS Main Theatre Writers’ Retreat 6.30pm We are delighted to host Scotland’s most lucrative book awards, live and in public, so you, the readers passionate about the work, can join in the pleasure of the prize. Chaired by Richard Holloway, the panel of shortlisted authors is Kirsty Gunn, John Burnside, Robin Robertson and Maggie Fergusson. It is a stunning line-up of fiction, memoir, poetry and biography. Who will be the winner? Come along and find out! £8.00 £6.00 Neil Bartlett & Toby Litt FINE FICTION ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm Provocative writing from two fearless talents. Neil Bartlett is a renowned actor and theatre director as well as novelist. His Skin Lane is a taut tale of erotic obsession. Toby Litt’s Hospital is a vivid, visceral and surreal vision, pushing at literary boundaries. £8.00 £6.00 Michèle Roberts LIVED LIVES Peppers Theatre 7.00pm Prize-winning novelist and professor of creative writing, Michèle Roberts has now written a personal and illuminating memoir of alternative London of the 1970s and 80s. Paper Houses recalls the heady days of experimental living, radical magazines, love affairs with both sexes and intellectual adventures and challenges at every turn. £8.00 £6.00 Dissidence and Cyberspace FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION LIVED LIVES ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm Hamish Henderson was one of the most important figures in Scottish culture, song and folklore of the twentieth century. A major poet and songwriter in his own right, he did more than anyone to collect and celebrate the indigenous traditions of the land. Film-maker Timothy Neat brings us the long-awaited official biography of this man of immense achievement. £8.00 £6.00 Xiaolu Guo FOCUS ON CHINA Peppers Theatre 8.30pm When Xiaolu Guo was named as a favourite for the Orange Broadband Prize, it was rightful recognition for one of the most talented young Chinese creative spirits of her generation. Award-winning film-maker as well as author, born in a tiny fishing village in South China, she was a huge hit when she first came to the Book Festival with her haunting debut Village of Stone. We are delighted to welcome her back with the clever and funny A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, a witty tale of dawning cultural comprehension. Come and meet a very special talent indeed. £8.00 £6.00 Spiegelbar Highland Park Spiegeltent Come and relax and listen to live music. from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Free – open to all Highland Park Spiegeltent 7.30pm – 8.45pm The ways in which writers’ freedom of expression is curtailed grow ever more complex: ‘cyber-dissidents’ writing on the web have had their details passed on to authorities by web providers, leading to prosecution and imprisonment. Join Hari Kunzru and leading Danish author and journalist Janne Teller in this special English PEN event as they discuss the evolving threats to freedom of speech. £8.00 £6.00 Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 47 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 19 adult 15/5/07 12:37 PM Page 18 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Sunday 19 August 2007 Rodge Glass & Morten Ramsland David Davidar & Anita Nair Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am A top class hour of energetic, colourful family narrative from Scotland and Denmark. Rodge Glass’s debut No Fireworks was highly praised for its touching, funny depiction of a Jewish family. Morten Ramsland’s captivating Doghead also deals with generations of family eccentrics and messages from beyond the grave. £7.00 £5.00 Peppers Theatre 2.30pm Two major Indian novelists come to the Book Festival. David Davidar, from South India and now publisher of Penguin Canada, is a hugely respected literary figure. His brand new The Solitude of Emperors is set in the 1992 Bombay riots and shows the clash of fundamentalism and modern society. Anita Nair is one of India’s most exciting writers: Mistress tells of art and adultery in riverside Kerala. £7.00 £5.00 Rachel Holmes William McIlvanney Peppers Theatre 11.00am A compelling account of changing attitudes towards race and cultural norms. The ‘Hottentot Venus’, Saartjie Bartman was put on titillating display in London and died destitute and exploited at the age of twentyfive. When Nelson Mandela requested the repatriation of her remains 200 years later in 2002, the funeral was a national event. £7.00 £5.00 RBS Main Theatre 3.00pm One of the most moving and uplifting events of last year’s Book Festival was the return of William McIlvanney, one of Scotland’s seminal novelists, with his first book for a decade, Weekend. The welcome was overwhelming and we are overjoyed to have him back with us this summer. £7.00 £5.00 Researching and Writing Your Biography Alice Roberts WAKE UP TO WORDS Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters MEET THE AUTHOR HISTORY POPULAR SCIENCE WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 11.00am – 12.30pm A practical workshop on research techniques and ways of structuring your biography. Bring along ideas about projects and work in progress. Brian Osborne is the author of the A&C Black Writing Handbook Writing Biography and Autobiography. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 Fay Weldon FOCUS ON INDIA ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm Don’t Die Young is as good an instruction as any. Dr Alice Roberts, anatomist and TV presenter, takes us on a tour of the human body and its astonishing organs and advises on how we should be looking after them. The stuff of life illuminated! £7.00 £5.00 Bengali Writers WRITERS OF THE WORLD BSL MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 11.30am Stylish, sharp, satirical and often gloriously politically incorrect, Fay Weldon is a free spirit with a long and remarkable writing career. We are delighted to present the brand new The Spa Decameron, in which ten high achieving women gather at a spa for pampering, new beginnings and their own stories of life and sex. £7.00 £5.00 Gerard DeGroot & Jed Mercurio NATIONS UNLIMITED ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon Why do nations assert their prowess by reaching for the stars? St Andrews professor Gerard DeGroot unveils the grand folly of America’s lunar quest in Dark Side Of The Moon – a small step which in the end did little for mankind. Jed Mercurio, doctor and acclaimed scriptwriter, writes of a Russian cosmonaut in his powerful novel Ascent. £7.00 £5.00 Ruth Padel Peppers Theatre 4.00pm A very special event in our Indian series: a superb group of Bengali writers, brought from Kolkata to Edinburgh courtesy of the British Council, who write in their native Bangla as well as English and far too little known in the West. Joy Goswami is one of the most important poets of his generation. He is joined by poets, essayists and novelists Bani Basu, Nabarun Bhattacharya and from Bangladesh, Selina Hossain. Supported by the British Council £7.00 £5.00 Richard Dawkins MATTERS OF THE MIND RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm The most eminent scientist of our age, Richard Dawkins is an outspoken critic of religion in all its manifestations. His dazzling and passionate polemic The God Delusion has become a worldwide bestseller in the past year for its fierce and brilliant arguments against what he sees as the damaging rise of dogma. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. £7.00 £5.00 POETRY Creative Writing Peppers Theatre 12.30pm Herself a leading poet, Ruth Padel is also a perfect and illuminating guide. The Poem and The Journey argues passionately that we need poetry more than ever on the journey of our fractured modern lives and gathers sixty unusual, life-enhancing poems to read along the way. £7.00 £5.00 Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm The Handbook Of Creative Writing is a perfect guide: covering the basics of how to write a novel or script, the practicalities and problems of becoming a writer and some critical theory too. Come and pick up some hints from Steven Earnshaw, its editor. Lucy Eyre with Julian Baggini FIRST FICTION Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm If Minds Had Toes is a delightful debut novel and introduction to the world of philosophy and some of its most intriguing, thought-provoking and necessary ideas. Lucy Eyre, daughter of theatre director Richard, talks to philosopher Julian Baggini about her fifteen year old hero and his sexy (and dead, it turns out) guide, Lila. Perfect for teenagers, young adults and all who love asking the big questions. £5.00 £3.00 20 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 THE WRITING BUSINESS Supported by The Society of Authors £5.00 £3.00 David Crystal LITERATURE AND CULTURE ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm Rightly described as a ‘latter day Dr Johnson’, David Crystal is in love with language and has written nearly 100 books in a prolific career dedicated to words. By Hook Or By Crook is an entertaining travelogue relating his many journeys and encounters with English in unlikely corners of the planet, filled with his personal enthusiasm. £7.00 £5.00 adult 15/5/07 12:38 PM Page 19 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Sunday 19 August 2007 Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series WOMEN Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Today: The role of women in the struggle for freedom of expression has sometimes been overlooked. We hear the work of women from India, Romania and Kosovo. Among those appearing: Ruth Padel. Who am I? Human Identity GENES AND SOCIETY Highland Park Spiegeltent 7.30pm – 8.45pm What is our identity as individuals really composed of? Does our genome – the whole hereditary information encoded in our DNA – define us? Our environment and our life experiences cannot be discounted. A philosopher, Julian Baggini, a doctor, Alice Roberts and an expert in genomics Steve Sturdy, discuss. Supported by the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum £8.00 £6.00 Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal & Niven Govinden FINE FICTION Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm Contemporary Britain seen through Asian eyes in two excellent and energetic new novels. Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal has been hugely acclaimed for his debut Tourism and its unflinching depiction of a young Indian man in the decadence of moneyed London. Niven Govinden’s Graffiti My Soul is a stylish, tender tale of a teenage misfit. £5.00 £3.00 Julian Clary FIRST FICTION RBS Main Theatre 6.30pm Camp comedy icon, TV presenter and now author, Julian Clary launches his debut novel Murder Most Fab. A hilarious satire on celebrity and the crime genre, it concerns former rentboy and smooth TV presenter, Johnny Debonair, who sets out to write a first novel... £8.00 £6.00 Loung Ung THE AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL EVENT ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm A highly important visit from a former Cambodian child soldier, now a leading campaigner against land mines. Loung Ung’s intensely moving memoir After They Killed Our Father relates how as a ten year old she escaped the killing fields and fled to the West, leaving behind three siblings at the mercy of the Khmer Rouge. It took fifteen years for her to be reunited with her sister. An inspirational tale from a remarkable woman. £8.00 £6.00 Bashabi Fraser & Selina Hossain FOCUS ON INDIA Peppers Theatre 7.00pm The founding of the modern Indian state is being celebrated in this anniversary year. Equally significant is the Bengali partition which preceded it, creating East Pakistan, later Bangladesh. Edinburgh-based poet and writer Bashabi Fraser has brought together writing which reflects that turbulent time with its continuing resonances. Selina Hossain, leading novelist, has travelled from Bangladesh to take part. £8.00 £6.00 Roma Tearne & Julian West FIRST FICTION Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm Two compelling debut novels set in the Sri Lankan civil war. Roma Tearne fled when she was ten, travelling to England in a three week boat journey and is now a successful artist. Mosquito powerfully evokes the lush landscape and the descent into violence and hatred. Julian West, distinguished foreign correspondent, also explores love and obsession at a time of genocide in her Serpent In Paradise. £5.00 £3.00 James Sheehan THE RSA LECTURES: NATIONS UNLIMITED RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm A major American commentator speaks on the critical balance of war and peace in The Monopoly of Violence: Why Europeans Hate Going To War. As the US asserts its right to make war for ideological or self-interested ends, Europe has drawn back from such a position, remaining in thrall to the armed might of the US – a historic reversal of far-reaching significance. £8.00 £6.00 Benedict Allen TRAVEL ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm The extremes of survival are explored by Benedict Allen – his own and that of other great explorers of the past. Into The Abyss describes his near-fatal incident in an Arctic expedition, interwoven with tales of other adventurers. What motivates them? How do they survive? Come and find out from one of the bravest, finest travel writers. £8.00 £6.00 Leif Davidsen & Paul Johnston CRIME Peppers Theatre 8.30pm Two of the best Danish and Scottish crime writers come together. Leif Davidsen was for many years a foreign correspondent in Moscow; The Serbian Dane draws on his expert political knowledge. Paul Johnston’s new novel The Death List concerns a crime novelist suddenly drawn chillingly close to murder. £8.00 £6.00 Spiegelbar Highland Park Spiegeltent Come and relax and listen to live music. from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Free – open to all Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 48 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 21 adult 15/5/07 12:39 PM Page 20 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Monday 20 August 2007 Michael Cox & Allan Massie Writing Fiction for Children Under Ten Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am Historical novels of great accomplishment. Allan Massie’s prolific output as a leading Scottish literary figure is now added to by Charlemagne and Roland, bringing those great early emperors and warriors to vivid life. Michael Cox’s epic The Meaning of Night recreates Victorian London, based on thirty years of planning and research. Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm – 3.30pm Prolific and bestselling children’s author Linda Strachan teaches some key skills for writing for younger children. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 WAKE UP TO WORDS Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 David Smith FOCUS ON INDIA AND CHINA Peppers Theatre 11.00am Our twin focus this year on India and China is perfectly distilled in The Dragon and The Elephant by David Smith, economics editor of the Sunday Times. What will the world look like and what will it mean when China and India join or overtake the US as the world’s fastest growing economies? £7.00 £5.00 Marketing Yourself as a Writer WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 11.00am – 12.30pm Ninety minutes of dedicated hands-on professional help on making yourself sound interesting to agents and publishers, with author and former publisher Alison Baverstock. A workshop in spotting and projecting the inner star! (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 Richard Ford BSL THE BAILLIE GIFFORD SERIES RBS Main Theatre 11.30am A rare and long-awaited visit to the Book Festival by one of America’s greatest writers. Richard Ford’s Independence Day is the only book ever to have won both the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. His magnificent followup The Lay of The Land is a masterpiece, laying bare human character in luminous prose. Don’t miss this very special literary event. £7.00 £5.00 Julian Baggini & Robin McKie NATIONS UNLIMITED ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon So what is British identity? Does it exist at all? Two very different approaches, one scientific and one philosophical, look at who we really are. Robin McKie, science editor of the Observer, uses DNA analysis to decode our mixed history in Face of Britain. Julian Baggini’s Welcome to Everytown examines the lives and beliefs of a ‘typical’ English town. £7.00 £5.00 Tim Harford Peppers Theatre 12.30pm A fresh, lively and accessible look at the economics of everyday life. The Undercover Economist, by columnist and TV presenter Tim Harford, wittily and briskly examines everything from the profits from commuters’ cappuccinos to how to fix the NHS: an engaging explanation of the invisible economic forces which drive our world. £7.00 £5.00 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L Anton Gill & Benjamin Woolley NATIONS UNLIMITED Peppers Theatre 2.30pm 400 years ago, the first British colony was founded in Virginia. Benjamin Woolley’s Savage Kingdom tells the true story of Pocahontas and the extraordinary survival of the embattled settlement. Anton Gill in Empire’s Children, follows the stories of six well-known figures as they unpick the colonial past which has formed multicultural Britain. £7.00 £5.00 A N Wilson FINE FICTION ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm A major new novel from one of the foremost literary figures of our time. Winnie and Wolf is the extraordinary story of the relationship between Adolf Hitler and Winifred Wagner, brilliantly recreating the days of the Weimar Republic and the lives of two outsiders. £7.00 £5.00 Nat Edwards & Douglas Watt THE BAILLIE GIFFORD SERIES Peppers Theatre 4.00pm Two riveting accounts of the Darien scheme – the disastrous Scottish failed colony, which led to national bankruptcy and the Union with England. Nat Edwards travelled to the mosquito-infested swamps in search of graves and answers; Douglas Watt unravels the economic and political background to the catastrophe. £7.00 £5.00 Michael Rose NATIONS UNLIMITED RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm General Sir Michael Rose is one of the most distinguished servicemen, having directed the UK Special Forces and commanded the UN Protection Force in Bosnia. He brings his great knowledge and experience to bear in Washington’s War, looking at how guerrilla warfare was used to beat the British out of America and how Iraqi insurgents are using the same techniques against US forces today. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. £7.00 £5.00 Marketing Your Book – to Agents, Publishers and Readers THE WRITING BUSINESS Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm If you have a strong writing idea, how do you find an agent or publisher to take you seriously – and get you into print? Plus good advice for those already published on keeping your profile high. With expert Alison Baverstock. Supported by The Society of Authors THE BAILLIE GIFFORD SERIES: BUSINESS MATTERS 22 WRITING WORKSHOP 11 – 27 August 2007 £5.00 £3.00 Publishing and the Future THE PUBLISHING SCOTLAND EVENT ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm Let’s get digital. In this age of YouTube and online blogs is the writer better to skip the publisher and agent and go direct to the reader? Leading Scottish publishers debate the future and give key tips on getting published. Hosted by Jenny Brown, literary agent, with Lorraine Fannin, Publishing Scotland, Hugh Andrew, Birlinn Publishing, and Jenny Todd, Canongate Books. £7.00 £5.00 adult 15/5/07 12:39 PM Page 21 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Monday 20 August 2007 Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series Nature and Nurture Revisited GENES AND SOCIETY BANNING THE BLOGS Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Today: Governments around the world are cracking down on freedom of expression by bloggers. Our readings today include work by Abdul Kareem Suleiman, sentenced by the Egyptian courts to four years in prison for expressing his views in his blog. Among those appearing: Allan Massie. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event Pawel Huelle WRITERS OF THE WORLD Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm We are delighted to welcome a thrillingly imaginative leading Polish author to the Book Festival. Former press officer for Solidarity, university philosopher and head of a TV channel, Pawel Huelle is now internationally renowned as a writer. In Castorp he takes Thomas Mann’s hero from The Magic Mountain and imagines his years in Gdañsk at the dawn of the twentieth century – atmospheric, mysterious and eccentric. £5.00 £3.00 Andrew Marr THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND DONALD DEWAR LECTURE RBS Main Theatre 6.30pm We present one of the most outstandingly popular and respected broadcasters and political commentators of the age, in our annual event in memory of Donald Dewar, Scotland’s founder of devolution and inaugural First Minister. Join Andrew Marr as he reflects with his trademark wit and intelligence on Scotland, politics and life. Chaired by Iain Macwhirter. £8.00 £6.00 Jonathan Bate LITERATURE AND CULTURE ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm A groundbreaking new complete works of Shakespeare is a major cultural event. For the first time in 300 years, the new RSC edition is based on the First Folio – arguably the most important book in the history of world drama. Editor and expert Jonathan Bate communicates all his passion and enthusiasm for this stunning work. £8.00 £6.00 Michael Blastland POPULAR SCIENCE Peppers Theatre 7.00pm Mathematics bamboozles many of us, but we all need to understand the world of numbers – and the way they are manipulated by politicians, journalists and others. The Tiger That Wasn’t is a liberating and fear-free introduction to the simple principles of maths, by the team behind BBC Radio 4’s hugely popular More Or Less. £8.00 £6.00 Highland Park Spiegeltent 7.30pm – 8.45pm Is our behaviour caused by our genes or our environment? Or is it a little less simple than that – does in fact the environment affect our genes? Can genes be ‘switched on’ by a set of circumstances (a child in a violent home)? Discuss the latest scientific insights with our panel including philosopher Simon Blackburn and science writer Robin McKie. Chaired by Sergio della Sala. Supported by the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum £8.00 £6.00 Anna Ralph & Ruth Thomas FIRST FICTION Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm Two wonderful debut novels about secrets and hidden lives. Anna Ralph is the daughter of Pat Barker; her haunting The Floating Island is a riveting psychological tale of loss and betrayal, as a boy in a wheelchair confronts what happened the day his brother died. Scottish writer Ruth Thomas beautifully evokes two school friends whose adult lives have diverged in Things to Make and Mend. £5.00 £3.00 Joan Bakewell THE MURRAY BEITH MURRAY EVENT RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm The verve, grace, warmth, intelligence and sheer accomplishment of Joan Bakewell make her one of the Book Festival’s most eagerly welcomed guests. Come and join her as she casts her lucid glance upon the world from the perspective of her eighth decade and her distinguished career in broadcasting. Chaired by Sheena Macdonald. £8.00 £6.00 A L Kennedy FINE FICTION ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm Linguistic brilliance and an astonishing reach of imaginative empathy have made A L Kennedy into one of the most remarkable writers of her generation. Her latest novel Day is perhaps her finest yet and enters new territory: a moving, profound, beautifully realised story of a bomber pilot in the Second World War. £8.00 £6.00 Anthony Loyd WAR AND THE MEDIA Peppers Theatre 8.30pm Addicted to war, addicted to heroin, Anthony Loyd’s savage and visceral account of his life, My War Gone By, I Miss It So propelled him to public attention. An award-winning foreign correspondent, he now writes with equally brutal honesty in Another Bloody Love Letter about the hideous reality of violence, and of love and loss. £8.00 £6.00 Spiegelbar Highland Park Spiegeltent Come and relax and listen to live music. from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Free – open to all Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 49 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 23 adult 22/5/07 10:05 AM Page 22 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Tuesday 21 August 2007 Simon Biggam & Alan Bissett Andrew Marr Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am Two of the brightest, burgeoning talents on the new Scottish fiction scene. Alan Bissett has established himself after only two novels as a writer of immense zest, originality and energy. Simon Biggam visited last year’s festival with his chilling debut about a Peeping Tom; the follow-up, The First Day, set in 1944, is equally gripping. RBS Main Theatre 1.30pm Book quickly. When hugely admired Scottish broadcaster Andrew Marr was last at the Book Festival, his was the fastest selling event of them all. His enthralling new look at modern Britain is a brilliant sweep through politics, culture, sexuality, the cult of celebrity and the current apparent victory of consumerism over grand vision. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. WAKE UP TO WORDS THE MURRAY BEITH MURRAY EVENT Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 £7.00 £5.00 Creative Writing Ian Kershaw, Stephen McGinty & David Stafford HISTORY Peppers Theatre 11.00am Powerful new light on forgotten aspects of the Second World War. Ian Kershaw, renowned expert on Hitler, terrifyingly shows the contingency of history, examining ten fateful decisions which could have tipped the balance either way. David Stafford looks at the horrors which followed VE Day – a neglected story of fractured lives. Stephen McGinty looks at the enduring iconic status of Churchill’s cigars. £7.00 £5.00 How to Manage Your Time as a Writer WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 11.00am – 12.30pm Deciding you want to write is one thing; finding the time, peace and location to do the writing is quite another. A workshop offering firm advice on how to take your writing seriously – and encourage others to do the same. With expert Alison Baverstock. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 Pat Barker BSL RBS Main Theatre 11.30am Pat Barker’s deep, wise insight into the lives of ordinary people caught up in the First World War has won her the Booker Prize and sales of over one million for her Regeneration trilogy. Now she returns to that period with a major new novel, Life Class, about a young artist who volunteers for the Red Cross on the front line and whose life will never be the same again. Supported by the Hawthornden Literary Retreat £7.00 £5.00 £10.00 £8.00 Matthew Collin & Ian Patterson NATIONS UNLIMITED Peppers Theatre 2.30pm Two powerful accounts of far-reaching events shaping recent history. Ian Patterson’s Guernica and Total War marks the 70th anniversary of the obliteration of a civilian population, and its pertinence to today’s wars; while Matthew Collin’s Time of The Rebels brilliantly shows how peoplepower in Eastern Europe fomented revolution and democratic change. £7.00 £5.00 Edward de Bono THE INHOUSE EVENT RBS Main Theatre 3.00pm A very special chance to meet one of the world’s most important thinkers, the man who developed the concept of lateral thinking and whose teaching of creative thinking is sought after internationally by world leaders, governments, educationalists and businesses. Stretch your mind in his company. Michael Dobbs FINE FICTION ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm The creator of House of Cards once again shows his sharp-eyed inside knowledge. First Lady is a ripping revenge tale of a wronged MP’s wife – with uncanny resonances in the real world of Westminster. Michael Dobbs has advised Prime Ministers and been Chief of Staff for the Conservative Party – a man who knows where the bodies are buried. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. £7.00 £5.00 Simon Blackburn MATTERS OF THE MIND ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon One of the most distinguished and accessible philosophers and communicators, Simon Blackburn has attracted capacity audiences at the Book Festival for matters ranging from lust to truth. Now he goes back to the most influential philosopher of all, Plato, explaining how his Republic laid the foundations of Western culture. £7.00 £5.00 Rob Gifford & Duncan Hewitt FOCUS ON CHINA Peppers Theatre 4.00pm Our major Chinese series continues with two in-depth accounts of the staggering transformations taking place. Duncan Hewitt, former BBC China correspondent, introduces us to the new entrepreneurs in Getting Rich First. Rob Gifford’s China Road, following the 3,000 mile long Route 312 from Shanghai to Kazakhstan, is a quest to the heart of the new China. £7.00 £5.00 Sarah Chayes EAST AND WEST Peppers Theatre 12.30pm Afghanistan from the inside, as seen by a courageous and remarkable American who went as a reporter to cover the fall of the Taliban and stayed to make a difference. Now running a soap co-operative in Kandahar, Sarah Chayes gives essential first-hand testimony, not least of how the mighty US is outwitted at every turn. £7.00 £5.00 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm – 3.30pm Kirsty Gunn, award-winning novelist and Professor of Creative Writing at Dundee University invites you to take part in a writing session designed to show everybody just how easy it is to unlock your imagination and let your writing flow. Bring along paper and a pen and be prepared to be inspired... £7.00 £5.00 MEET THE AUTHOR 24 WRITING WORKSHOP 11 – 27 August 2007 Roy Hattersley MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm Buster is back. The most famous canine author in Britain reveals the travails of ageing and living with the man who would clearly like to be a dog but lacks the necessary talent. Lovely, touching comic tales of a dog’s world from the ever prolific and prodigious Roy Hattersley. £7.00 £5.00 adult 21/5/07 5:34 PM Page 23 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Tuesday 21 August 2007 Writing – Keeping at it! The Rise of Religion Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm Bestselling novelist Kate Mosse and Greg Mosse, non-fiction author and teacher, discuss persistence, determination and ‘getting it done’, how to make your ideas work, formats and how to present work for an agent or publisher, and answer any other questions on aspects of the professional writer’s craft, in fiction and non-fiction. Highland Park Spiegeltent 7.30pm – 8.45pm Is the rise of religion a threat to liberal democracy? Are religious believers backward and deluded, or does religious faith reflect something missing from secular society? With religion playing a greater role in public life in the West, is the future religious whether we like it or not? Is radical Islam a religious threat to secular values or a political challenge to the West? Join Ed Husain, who was an Islamic fundamentalist, Dolan Cummings, editor of Debating Humanism and Phillip Blond, theologian and commentator. THE WRITING BUSINESS Supported by The Society of Authors £5.00 £3.00 Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series AFRICA Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Today: Writers and journalists in Africa are some of the most censored and intimidated in the world. We hear from Nigeria, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Among those appearing: Kirsty Gunn. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event Nikita Lalwani & Nury Vittachi FIRST FICTION Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm Glorious fiction from two writers new to the British scene. Nikita Lalwani, born in Rajasthan and brought up in Cardiff, writes touchingly and amusingly in Gifted of young maths prodigy, Rumi, coming of age in a complex cultural hinterland. Nury Vittachi is massively popular in Asia and newly published here: his madcap The Shanghai Union Of Industrial Mystics is a wild and hilarious spoof detective novel. £5.00 £3.00 Christopher Brookmyre THE PINSENT MASONS EVENT RBS Main Theatre 6.30pm Massively popular for his no-holds-barred wit and satire, top Scottish crime writer Christopher Brookmyre also has the best titles bar none. Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks explores strange psychic palaver at a Glasgow university which might yet fatally threaten our hero Jack Parlabane. Also - an exclusive glimpse at the next book he is working on – A Snowball in Hell. You heard it here first. Chaired by Janice Forsyth of BBC Radio Scotland’s The Radio Café £8.00 £6.00 Rhona Cameron FINE FICTION ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm One of the most successful stand-up comedians in the UK, Rhona Cameron received great praise for her funny, sensitive memoir of growing up in Musselburgh. Now she embarks on fiction with her first novel, The Naked Drinking Club, in which an Edinburgh twenty-something embarks on a suitably debauched tour of Australia. £8.00 £6.00 John Burnside & Colm Tóibín FINE FICTION Peppers Theatre 7.00pm A stunning double bill of two of the most acclaimed and award-laden writers to come out of Scotland and Ireland. John Burnside is leading poet, story writer and memoirist; his latest novel The Devil’s Footprints is equally accomplished, a dark fable set in a Fife fishing village. Colm Tóibín’s beautiful, powerful stories of Mothers and Sons prove him a master of prose and emotional insight. £8.00 £6.00 EAST AND WEST In association with The Institute of Ideas £8.00 £6.00 Clare Clark & Scarlett Thomas FINE FICTION Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm Highly accomplished and engaging fiction. Clare Clark’s The Nature of Monsters recreates the tumult of eighteenth century London and its heady mix of social deprivation and experimental science. Scarlett Thomas’s The End Of Mr Y also evokes a bygone scientist and plays intriguingly with the mysterious ideas he embodied. £5.00 £3.00 Lynne Truss THE TIMES EVENT RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm The phenomenal worldwide success of Eats, Shoots and Leaves propelled Lynne Truss far beyond the acclaim she already enjoyed as journalist and scriptwriter. A Certain Age collects her perfectly observed, funny and moving radio monologues, in the tradition of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads. Pure bliss. £8.00 £6.00 Kate Mosse FINE FICTION ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm Kate Mosse’s international bestselling Labyrinth, was the biggest selling novel of 2006. In this exclusive pre-publication event she talks about the research and writing of her forthcoming novel Sepulchre, a ghost story about a mysterious pack of tarot cards and the music of Debussy, set at the end of the nineteenth century in Paris and southwest France. £8.00 £6.00 Carol Drinkwater TRAVEL Peppers Theatre 8.30pm The Olive Route is the story of the Mediterranean itself and the lands where life has depended for centuries on the silver-green tree and its fruit. Actress Carol Drinkwater went to live on an olive farm in Provence; now she embarks, with trademark passion and enthusiasm, on a journey through olive culture from the Cretans to the present. £8.00 £6.00 Spiegelbar Highland Park Spiegeltent Come and relax and listen to live music. from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Free – open to all Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 50 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 25 adult 15/5/07 12:42 PM Page 24 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Wednesday 22 August 2007 Ian Duhig & Annie Freud Fantasy Writing WAKE UP TO WORDS WRITING WORKSHOP Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am A luminous and energising hour of poetry to give your day a spring in its step. Ian Duhig worked with homeless people for fifteen years before becoming one of the most acclaimed poets of his generation. Annie Freud’s The Best Man That Ever Was has been called the most important poetic debut of the last decade. Would you like to write fantasy fiction but are not sure where to start? Fantasy novelist Deborah J Miller discusses the basics of the genre and perhaps gets you started on a whole new literary adventure. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 LIVED LIVES Peppers Theatre 11.00am In a profound, humane and intensely moving account, Mary Loudon describes her search for her sister who suffered from schizophrenia, and whom she had not seen for twelve years before her death. Relative Stranger pieces together the lost years; a powerfully affecting illumination not just of mental illness but of the deep ties of family love. £7.00 £5.00 RELIGION AND SOCIETY Peppers Theatre 2.30pm A priest turned supermarket worker gives us ten new commandments – not the ferocious instructions of old – for a gentler, more fulfilling life in an intriguing work of psychology and spirituality. The former leader of the Iona Community tells of his conversations about faith and life with the inspirational former priest of Rosslyn Chapel, Roland Walls. £7.00 £5.00 Plot and Character Peter & Dan Snow WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 11.00am – 12.30pm A gripping plot is driven by convincing characters. In this practical class, suitable for all abilities, author, translator and educator Greg Mosse shows useful techniques for developing good ideas for the interplay of character and plot. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 BSL MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 11.30am One of the most perceptive and eloquent of British writers, Blake Morrison is a leading poet, critic and journalist famed for his memoirs including And When Did You Last See Your Father?. His new novel South Of The River is a comic, dark dissecting of a group of dysfunctional characters epitomising Blair’s skewed Britain. Chaired by Joan Bakewell. Supported by the Hawthornden Literary Retreat £7.00 £5.00 John Gray MATTERS OF THE MIND ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon Are ancient myths and apocalyptic religion returning to haunt us, no longer buried in the past but bursting through in the new forms of fundamentalism? What hope now for an end to global conflict? Philosophy, politics, economics and current affairs blaze together in the vital, timely work of John Gray, a thinker we desperately need. Chaired by Richard Holloway. £7.00 £5.00 Lavinia Greenlaw & Kirsty Gunn GIRLS AND GROWING Peppers Theatre 12.30pm The consolations of maternal domesticity and memories of being a music-loving adolescent combine in memoirs from two exceptional literary figures, novelist and poet, heading down unexpected routes. Kirsty Gunn’s beautiful 44 Things: A Year of Life At Home celebrates her life with her young daughters; poet Lavinia Greenlaw pays tribute to girlhood itself. £7.00 £5.00 26 2.00pm – 3.30pm Ron Ferguson & Simon Parke Mary Loudon Blake Morrison Writers’ Retreat E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 HISTORY RBS Main Theatre 3.00pm The course of twentieth century history was changed by certain key battles, their enormous impact resonating through subsequent decades. Father and son team Peter and Dan Snow, BBC stars, look together at the factors which caused victory and defeat in battlefields from Amiens to the First Gulf War and which influenced our lives today. £7.00 £5.00 Isla Dewar FINE FICTION ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm Perenially popular, warm and entertaining, always avoiding grandiosity, Isla Dewar has a huge, loyal and growing following. Novels such as The Consequences of Marriage, an acute portrayal of a young man and his Edinburgh landlady, demonstrate precisely why. £7.00 £5.00 Neil Boorman & Tobias Jones GLOBAL WORLD Peppers Theatre 4.00pm What happens without the trappings of consumerist modern life? Neil Boorman, brand consultant, burned and destroyed all his branded goods – and possibly his identity. Tobias Jones took his wife and baby daughter round communes for a year, seeking the elusive balance between authentic individual and community. £7.00 £5.00 Writing for Over Tens and Teens THE WRITING BUSINESS Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm There is a growing market for young adult fiction. Award-winning novelist Nicola Morgan explains how to appeal to the different age ranges. Supported by The Society of Authors £5.00 £3.00 adult 15/5/07 12:43 PM Page 25 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Wednesday 22 August 2007 Rosemary Davidson & Lucy Mangan GIRLS AND GROWING ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm The second of today’s celebrations of girlhood, as good for teenage lovers of Jacqueline Wilson as for anyone who has ever been a girl. Deliciously witty Guardian columnist Lucy Mangan’s Hopscotch and Handbags asks, hilariously, what it means to be a girl. Publisher Rosemary Davidson also delves into all things girly. £7.00 £5.00 Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series GENOCIDE Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Today: From Rwanda to Guatemala, twentieth century genocide was an all too frequent occurrence. We also look at genocide in Kashmir and Nigeria. Among those appearing: James Robertson. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event Mohsin Hamid & Ed Husain EAST AND WEST Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm Two compelling explorations, one fictional, one true, of the allure of Islamic fundamentalism. Ed Husain became part of British radical Islam aged sixteen; five years later he rejected that way of life. He is uniquely placed to explain the appeal and the continued threat of extremism. In his subtle and powerful novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Lahore-born Harvard-educated Mohsin Hamid also looks at the tensions besetting young Muslims in the West. £5.00 £3.00 Karen Armstrong The Rise of Religion MORAL VALUES IN THE MODERN WORLD Highland Park Spiegeltent In association with The Institute of Ideas £8.00 £6.00 Georgina Harding & Jeremy Page FIRST FICTION Writers’ Retreat £5.00 £3.00 Simon Armitage POETRY ScottishPower Studio Theatre £8.00 £6.00 Meredith Hooper & Verlyn Klinkenborg £8.00 £6.00 Peppers Theatre ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm Catching Life By The Throat is the inspirational project of bestselling novelist turned poetry evangelist Josephine Hart. A wonderful anthology of poems by Auden, Eliot, Larkin, Plath, Yeats and more, it captures the essence of what poetry can do – complete with readings by renowned actors. Come and discover which stars will be reading in Edinburgh. THE OPEN UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENT SERIES £8.00 £6.00 Spiegelbar Kitty Aldridge & Esther Freud Highland Park Spiegeltent Come and relax and listen to live music. Peppers Theatre 7.00pm Two clear, distinctive novelistic voices. Esther Freud’s semiautobiographical Hideous Kinky first established her talent. Her latest, Love Falls, is a work of utmost accomplishment and maturity, pitching a girl into a troubling adult world. Kitty Aldridge’s Cryers Hill also explores memories of childhood. 8.30pm Sometimes an animal’s-eye view tells us a great deal about the state of the natural world. Timothy’s Book is American writer Verlyn Klinkenborg’s wonderful tortoise-eye view of an English country garden (as first described in Gilbert White’s Natural History of Selborne). Meredith Hooper studies penguins in Antarctica to understand the full and terrifying impact of global warming. £8.00 £6.00 FINE FICTION 8.30pm One of Britain’s most popular and powerful poets, delivering sound and sense without a hint of pretentiousness, Simon Armitage heightens the pulse of language. His new translation of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight makes it bloody, real and alive for a modern age. RBS Main Theatre 6.30pm One of the foremost religious and ethical thinkers of our time, Karen Armstrong’s seminal works on world religions have included Islam and Buddhism. Now the former nun turned leading commentator addresses the Bible, the world’s bestselling book and fount of the West’s literature, culture and belief systems. POETRY 7.30pm Suffused with the sea and loneliness, here are two highly atmospheric and haunting first novels, living long in the mind. Georgina Harding’s The Solitude of Thomas Cave evokes in perfectly weighted prose a seventeenth century whaler abandoned in the Arctic North. Jeremy Page’s Salt dreams of the marshes and vast skies of Norfolk. RELIGION AND SOCIETY Josephine Hart 7.30pm – 8.45pm Is atheism just another fundamentalism? It seems science is on the march against everything from creationism to Catholicism. But do we put too much faith in science? Or is there a need for a stronger defence of secular humanist values? Should there be a campaign against irrationality and superstition, or should humanists make common cause with religious moderates, against fundamentalists of all stripes? Join eminent thinker and philosopher John Gray, the former leader of the Iona Community, Ron Ferguson and Mark Vernon, author of Science, Religion and The Meaning of Life. from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Free – open to all £8.00 £6.00 Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 50 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 27 adult 15/5/07 12:43 PM Page 26 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Thursday 23 August 2007 Matthew Kneale & Gerard Woodward Clive Stafford Smith LAW AND SOCIETY WAKE UP TO WORDS Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am Moving family stories from two award-winning British novelists, both Booker shortlisted. Gerard Woodward writes with quietly heartbreaking brilliance of old age and late flowering desire in A Curious Earth. Matthew Kneale, bestselling author of English Passengers, views a damaged family and paranoid mother through the innocent eyes of a young boy in When We Were Romans. Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 £7.00 £5.00 Zachary Leader LIVED LIVES Tim Butcher & Tim Jeal FOCUS ON AFRICA Peppers Theatre 11.00am The mighty Congo river and the complex life of Stanley, who first charted it, come together in this riveting insight into Africa. Tim Jeal sheds new light on the great explorer. Tim Butcher, foreign correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, follows in his footsteps on a hazardous journey through a turbulent and damaged heart of darkness. £7.00 £5.00 ScottishPower Studio Theatre 2.00pm Kingsley Amis was a colossus of letters, not just the finest comic novelist of his generation but a dominant figure in post-war British literary circles. Zachary Leader’s biography of this extravagantly talented, complex and flawed figure has received universal praise for its elegance, meticulous research and new insights. £7.00 £5.00 How to Create a Series WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm – 3.30pm Series for six to ten year olds can sell in their millions. Learn about writing a series for this age group, what appeals and what sells, with vastly experienced writer Vivian French. (Maximum 20 places). Writing and Rejection £10.00 £8.00 WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 11.00am – 12.30pm The psychology of rejection – remember it isn’t personal. How to use rejection to move forward, developing a critical reaction to criticism and why not to write that angry letter to the agent who said no. With author, playwright and psychotherapist Caroline Dunford. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 Tony Harrison RBS Main Theatre 1.30pm One of the most passionate and committed human rights lawyers in the world today, Clive Stafford Smith spent twenty years defending prisoners on Death Row. His clients now include detainees in Guantanamo Bay and he devastatingly exposes the injustice and hypocrisy of that infamous camp. Come and hear his anger, his eloquence and how he is determined to make a difference. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. BSL Dominic Green & Clare Pettitt FOCUS ON AFRICA Peppers Theatre 2.30pm In the second of today’s events on Western exploration and incursions into Africa, Clare Pettitt’s Dr Livingstone, I Presume? takes up the tale of Stanley and the great Scottish explorer. A powerful Western presence is revealed in Dominic Green’s Armies of God: Islam and Empire on the Nile 1869–1899 showing the great clashes between Europeans, Arabs and Africans in the Sudan. POETRY £7.00 £5.00 RBS Main Theatre 11.30am A colossal figure in contemporary British literature, Tony Harrison is seventy this year and his polemical energy is undiminished. The major film and theatre poet of our time, the scholarship boy imbued with classics and class, he believes utterly in the affirmative power of poetry. Come and meet a unique literary spirit. Libby Purves £7.00 £5.00 Thant Myint-U MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 3.00pm Columnist, broadcaster and presenter of wit and energy, Libby Purves is also an accomplished novelist. Her latest, Love Songs and Lies, shows her gift for shrewdly observing society, taking a group of friends from 1970s Oxford through the start of their adult lives, in a revealing portrait of the late twentieth century. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. £7.00 £5.00 FOCUS ON BURMA ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon The dramatic and tragic story of modern Burma is poignantly revealed through the knowledge and family stories of Thant Myint-U. The River of Lost Footsteps movingly describes his family’s inheritance and achievements (including leading the UN) and interweaves it with the country’s rise and decline and its intractable civil war. £7.00 £5.00 Raja Shehadeh EAST AND WEST ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm Human rights lawyer and writer of powerful and poignant sensitivity, Palestinian Raja Shehadeh is one the wisest and most welcome visitors to the Book Festival. We are honoured to be launching his new book Palestinian Walks, in which he crosses his land on foot; conflicts and history revealed in the beautiful battered landscapes. £7.00 £5.00 Erik Reinert THE BAILLIE GIFFORD SERIES: BUSINESS MATTERS Douglas MacGowan & Harry Reid Peppers Theatre 12.30pm How Rich Countries Got Rich and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor offers fresh and vital thinking about modern economic development. Leading Norwegian thinker Erik Reinert argues that the current overemphasis on free trade is wrong, and that rich countries became so through a mix of protectionism and state activism; important lessons for the developing world. Peppers Theatre 4.00pm Leading journalist Harry Reid, former editor of the Herald, knows the media from the inside. Deadline is his fascinating account of the Scottish press over the last fifty years of great political and social change. Douglas MacGowan revisits a notorious story which filled the papers in Victorian times, the scandalous Madeleine Smith case: murder, adultery – perfect tabloid fare. £7.00 £5.00 28 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 MEDIA AND SOCIETY £7.00 £5.00 adult 15/5/07 12:44 PM Page 27 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Thursday 23 August 2007 How to Read a Novel The Older Citizen THE WRITING BUSINESS FAMILY AND SOCIETY Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm John Mullan is the perfect guide to novel-reading and explains with plenty of examples how the novelist’s techniques and effects draw us in. Come and learn how to get even more pleasure from the pages. Supported by The Society of Authors £5.00 £3.00 In association with Queen Margaret University and the RBS Centre for the Older Person’s Agenda Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series £8.00 £6.00 BURMA Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Today: Under a dictatorial military government, Burmese intellectuals and writers are targeted for repression. Today we hear readings from the work of the Burmese Poet Laureate and from Nobel Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi. Among those appearing: Libby Purves. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event Biyi Bandele & Karen Connelly 6.00pm In the third of our events today on that troubled land, two outstanding novelists uncover tragic times in Burma. The major Nigerian writer Biyi Bandele recalls the forgotten African soldiers (such as his own father) who fought in the rain-sodden Burmese jungle in Burma Boy. Canadian Karen Connelly’s powerful debut The Lizard Cage tells of the brutal solitary confinement of a protest singer. £5.00 £3.00 Jeremy Bowen 6.30pm One of the most experienced and respected of BBC foreign correspondents, Jeremy Bowen has been in some of the most hazardous war zones of the world. War Stories tells with direct honesty of his complex attraction to danger – as well as the ways in which technology has profoundly changed the media’s relationship with wars. £8.00 £6.00 The Vintage Classics Event Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm First-class fiction from Canada. We are delighted to welcome back Commonwealth Prize winner Michael Redhill, with Consolation, an exquisitely written tale of the past and present of Toronto. Madeleine Thien, from Vancouver, is an acclaimed story writer. Her first novel Certainty moves between modern Canada and Second World War Borneo (where Thien’s grandfather was murdered by Japanese soldiers in 1945) – a haunting narrative. James Naughtie MUSIC AND SOCIETY RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm The hugely popular and authoritative political broadcaster here turns to his other love – classical music. James Naughtie delves into our common history of music and reveals its characters and its dramatic moments – such as the riot at the premiere of The Rite of Spring – revealing the power which music has to move us. Pattie Boyd & Penny Junor LIVED LIVES ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm Sixties supermodel, inspiration for the songs Layla and Wonderful Tonight, married to George Harrison and later to Eric Clapton, working with David Bailey, Pattie Boyd epitomised an era. Her dramatic, highly colourful narrative, written with leading biographer and journalist Penny Junor, brings to life her own story and a wild decade. £8.00 £6.00 LITERATURE AND CULTURE ScottishPower Studio Theatre FOCUS ON CANADA £8.00 £6.00 THE ANDERSON STRATHERN EVENT RBS Main Theatre Michael Redhill & Madeleine Thien £5.00 £3.00 FOCUS ON BURMA Writers’ Retreat Highland Park Spiegeltent 7.30pm – 8.45pm Are senior citizens an unacceptable burden on the NHS or too busy climbing Everest to look after their grandchilden? Attitudes towards the elderly – and of the elderly themselves – are changing radically. Is prejudice growing or diminishing? What does the increasing older population mean for society, state and individuals? Come and discuss with Ruth Wishart and our expert panel. 7.00pm Join Blake Morrison, Adam Thirlwell and Zachary Leader as they discuss the qualities which really make a book a classic, to celebrate the launch of the new Vintage Classics imprint. This year has seen a spate of reissues and repackaging of classic texts – but do we even agree what the word means? Come and join in. £8.00 £6.00 Louise Doughty CREATIVE WRITING Michael Asher & Robert Twigger TRAVEL Peppers Theatre 8.30pm Tales of the desert. Michael Asher is one of the greatest desert explorers of our day, a modern Wilfred Thesiger (of whom he has written the definitive biography). Sands Of Death describes the nineteenth century colonial disaster when a well-armed French expedition was routed and massacred by the Tuareg. Robert Twigger sought his own desert experience, crossing the Egyptian Sahara in search of a lost oasis. £8.00 £6.00 Peppers Theatre 7.00pm A highly successful and popular author, Louise Doughty is also a superb teacher. In the second of today’s events on the art of creative writing, she offers a novelist’s guide to being a novelist – a practical step by step guide which could help you write a novel in a year. Spiegelbar £8.00 £6.00 Free – open to all Highland Park Spiegeltent Come and relax and listen to live music. from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 51 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 29 adult 21/5/07 5:35 PM Page 28 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Friday 24 August 2007 Niall Griffiths & Rupert Thomson Laura Kipnis & Lynne Segal Highland Park Spiegeltent ScottishPower Studio Theatre 2.00pm Two feisty, passionate and questioning personal perspectives on feminism. Lynne Segal’s Making Trouble tells of her own life as a radical political activist. American Laura Kipnis provocatively assesses The Female Thing and with biting wit befitting Dorothy Parker, suggests women themselves might be feminism’s worst enemy. £7.00 £5.00 WAKE UP TO WORDS 10.15am Powerful and distinctive fiction to put new perspective on the day. Niall Griffiths’s astonishing use of language puts more pallid fiction to shame. Runt, about a sixteen year old savant on a remote Welsh hill farm, shows him at his finest. Rupert Thomson is equally at his best in Death of a Murderer, a night in the soul of the policeman guarding Myra Hindley’s dead body. Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 NATIONS UNLIMITED Peppers Theatre 11.00am Orcadians participating in Viking invasions as well as being victims, the Celts’s origins in the Basque country, a genetic line dividing the English from other Britons – Stephen Oppenheimer’s genetic detective story uncovers startling facts about the origins of our identity, using the latest DNA techniques. Britain will never look quite the same again. £7.00 £5.00 Writing Your First Novel WRITING WORKSHOP 11.00am – 12.30pm How to start your first novel and how to carry on. Louise Doughty talks through the joys, perils and pitfalls of writing full-length fiction. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 Ian McEwan BSL MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 11.30am Simply one of the finest living authors at the peak of his maturity and perception, Ian McEwan makes a hugely welcome visit to the Book Festival. His latest novella On Chesil Beach is a perfectly executed miniature masterpiece of a couple on their honeymoon night, poised between the 1950s which formed them and an unknowable modern future. Chaired by Ian Rankin. Supported by the Hawthornden Literary Retreat £7.00 £5.00 Stephen Bayley & Roger Mavity THE INHOUSE EVENT Peppers Theatre 12.30pm Persuasion and presentation are key skills, whether on a business lunch or a first date. Stephen Bayley is one of the world’s most sought after design consultants; Roger Mavity worked in advertising and is now chief executive of Conran Holdings. Life’s A Pitch is practical, witty, stylish (of course) and indispensable. £7.00 £5.00 Ben Okri MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre Tim Lott & Adam Thirlwell FINE FICTION Stephen Oppenheimer Writers’ Retreat WOMEN AND SOCIETY 1.30pm A major literary occasion as we launch the new novel of Nigerian-born Booker winner Ben Okri. Unlike any other writer at work in Britain today, Okri is a true visionary. Starbook, his first novel for five years, is part magical fable and part reflection on the impact slavery had on the collective unconscious of a continent. £7.00 £5.00 Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm Two hugely talented novelists give insight into their work. Tim Lott has refused to be pigeon-holed with works such as White City Blue and The Seymour Tapes (and now a novel for young adults too). Adam Thirlwell is one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists; he previews his brilliant forthcoming novel around themes of translation, Miss Herbert. £5.00 £3.00 Kevin Cahill GLOBAL WORLD Peppers Theatre 2.30pm Who owns the world? It is a big question and Kevin Cahill has a big, meticulously researched and revelatory answer of huge political, economic and social importance. Among many examples he establishes that a single individual owns a sixth of the world and that aristocratic families still own over 60% of Europe’s land mass. £7.00 £5.00 Xinran Xue FOCUS ON CHINA RBS Main Theatre 3.00pm Journalist, radio presenter, columnist and novelist, Xinran Xue has shed new light on her homeland ever since her seminal book about women’s lives, The Good Women of China. Her new novel Miss Chopsticks follows three peasant girls as they embrace a new life in the big, fast changing city. Warm fiction and essential insight. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. £7.00 £5.00 Sarah Dunant FINE FICTION ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm A fabulous courtesan and her dwarf companion slip away from the sacked and burning city of Rome, drawn to the wealth and opportunities of Venice. Broadcaster, journalist and writer Sarah Dunant thrillingly recreates the full richness of Renaissance Italy in In The Company of The Courtesan. £7.00 £5.00 Gabrielle Walker POPULAR SCIENCE Peppers Theatre 4.00pm Air: we take it absolutely for granted yet we live not just in it, but because of it. Gabrielle Walker’s limpid, accessible and eye-opening An Ocean of Air is one of those revelatory works which makes us rethink the miracle of life on earth, swaddled in the thinnest layers of atmosphere without which we would freeze, burn, boil, die. £7.00 £5.00 Creative Writing THE WRITING BUSINESS Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm Laura Marney has swiftly become a bestselling Scottish novelist; she also teaches on Glasgow’s highly successful and sought after Creative Writing course. Join her as she shares some tricks of the trade to help you with your own work. (Maximum 20 places). Supported by The Society of Authors 30 £5.00 £3.00 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 adult 15/5/07 12:45 PM Page 29 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Friday 24 August 2007 Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series WRITE TO LIFE Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Today: The refugee writing group at the Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture. Among those appearing: Sarah Dunant. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event Michael Wallner WRITERS OF THE WORLD Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm Huge international excitement has surrounded the publication of actor and screenwriter Michael Wallner’s debut, April In Paris, in more than twenty countries. A bestseller in his native Germany, it tells the story of an undercover German, working for the Nazis in France, who falls in love with a bookseller’s daughter and has to make the most painful choices. Superb European fiction. £5.00 £3.00 John Pilger MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 6.30pm Radical, passionate, controversial, constantly questioning, John Pilger is one of the most important free spirits in worldwide journalism and filmmaking, demanding the basic human right to democracy. His excoriating Freedom Next Time looks at the long shadow of imperialism, hidden censorship and enforced silence in key areas of the world. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. £8.00 £6.00 John Man & Frances Wood FOCUS ON CHINA ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm Our examination of China continues with two fascinating historical accounts. John Man, biographer of Kublai Khan and Genghis Khan, now looks at the Great Wall – its history and purpose. Frances Wood goes back to the controversial First Emperor who started the wall and founded, through law, strategy and brutality, what we now know as China. £8.00 £6.00 Campbell Armstrong & Ray Banks CRIME Peppers Theatre 7.00pm Internationally fêted Glaswegian thriller writer Campbell Armstrong, veteran of over twenty novels, and acclaimed newcomer Ray Banks join forces for an evening of hard and gritty crime, in which murder stalks the debauched and unwary. £8.00 £6.00 Feminism, Past, Present and Future Amy Bloom & Laura Restrepo WRITERS OF THE WORLD Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm Dazzling work from South and North America in this revelatory double bill. Nobel winner José Saramago and the great Scottish writer Alastair Reid are among those who believe Colombian Laura Restrepo to be the Latin American writer of her generation – come and hear her read from Delirium and find out if you agree. Major US writer Amy Bloom recreates in Away an unforgettable road trip through 1920s America. £5.00 £3.00 Ian Rankin THE HIGHLAND PARK EVENT RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm The number one bestselling crime writer in Britain, Ian Rankin’s creation of Inspector Rebus, now in his 20th anniversary year, along with the depiction of Edinburgh itself make him a much loved, read and respected leading literary figure. Join him to talk about the changes in crime writing and its huge popularity over the last twenty years. £8.00 £6.00 Daniel Kehlmann & Joseph O’Connor WRITERS OF THE WORLD ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm Superb historical fiction, of ambition, ideas and literary integrity, from Germany and Ireland. Joseph O’Connor follows up his international hit Star of the Sea with Redemption Falls, a rich epic of Irish immigrants at the end of the American Civil War. Daniel Kehlmann’s Measuring The World, about the explorer Humboldt and the mathematician Gauss, has taken Germany by storm. £8.00 £6.00 Helen Tse FOCUS ON CHINA Peppers Theatre 8.30pm Our final event of the day in our in-depth Chinese series, Sweet Mandarin is the first ever memoir from a British-born Chinese woman. Helen Tse recounts the courageous generations of the women in her family, overcoming adversity to found some of the earliest Chinese restaurants in the UK – a tradition to which Helen, formerly a high-flying finance and tax lawyer, has now returned. £8.00 £6.00 Spiegelbar Highland Park Spiegeltent Come and relax and listen to live music. from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Free – open to all WOMEN AND SOCIETY Highland Park Spiegeltent 7.30pm – 8.45pm Has feminism had its day? Whatever happened to all that radicalism? Or have women in our time actually never had it so good and so free set against the long comparisons of history? Come and discuss with veteran activist Lynne Segal, acerbic American commentator Laura Kipnis and broadcaster and historical novelist Sarah Dunant. £8.00 £6.00 Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 51 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 31 adult 21/5/07 5:37 PM Page 30 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Saturday 25 August 2007 Liu Hong & Manda Scott The Novel – How to Write One WRITING WORKSHOP WAKE UP TO WORDS Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am A wonderful morning of fiction from two highly skilled and popular novelists, one Scottish, one Chinese, who bring special insight into the place of women at times of great historical change. As part of our Focus On China series we are delighted to welcome Liu Hong with Wives of The East Wind, spanning five turbulent decades. Manda Scott’s Boudica series has been rightly acclaimed; today she gives a glimpse of her next work, Crystal Skulls. Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 EAST AND WEST Peppers Theatre 11.00am The forgotten history of Islam and the West, and the monotheistic closeness of Christianity, Islam and Judaism, are potently recalled by Zachary Karabell in his timely and essential People Of The Book. Scottish historian Hugh Kennedy shows the remarkable speed of the Arab conquests which within a generation changed the shape of the world. £7.00 £5.00 Self-Publishing WRITING WORKSHOP Writers’ Retreat 11.00am – 12.30pm Should you self-publish? If so, how do you go about it? Of what pitfalls should you be wary? With Keith A Charters. (Maximum 20 places). £10.00 £8.00 BSL MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 11.30am A master novelist, Sebastian Faulks moves constantly onwards. Famed for his French trilogy including the colossally popular Birdsong, he now moves on to contemporary Britain with the intriguing and compelling Engleby, which reveals an entire generation of modern Britons and the frailty of consciousness. £7.00 £5.00 Adam Hart-Davis POPULAR SCIENCE ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon From the alarm clock to the duvet, science and technology are all around us all the time, often invisible and taken for granted. The hugely enthusiastic and idiosyncratic Adam Hart-Davis, TV presenter and unstoppably energetic lover of inventions and their history, cheerfully takes us through Just Another Day. £7.00 £5.00 Nick Rosen THE OPEN UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENT SERIES Peppers Theatre 12.30pm How To Live Off-Grid is writer and documentary maker Nick Rosen’s personal journey to a greener life – visiting and learning from those who have simplified their lives and reduced their dependence on the big power companies. This travelogue and manifesto also reassuringly suggests occasional luxury is still possible. £7.00 £5.00 32 In association with Arvon tutors at Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre £10.00 £8.00 Frank McLynn HISTORY Zachary Karabell & Hugh Kennedy Sebastian Faulks Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm – 3.30pm Practical and indispensable advice on how to approach writing a novel, with Richard Mason – whose bestselling first novel, The Drowning People, was written when he was just nineteen and has sold over 3 million copies in over thirty countries. E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 Peppers Theatre 2.30pm Lionheart and Lackland: King Richard, King John and the Wars of Conquest is leading historian Frank McLynn’s superb study of the glory days of the Plantagenets, filled with the stuff of legend and the collective imagination. But how do the stereotypes engendered by Robin Hood and Hollywood match the reality? A vivid, vanished world. £7.00 £5.00 Mark Tully FOCUS ON INDIA RBS Main Theatre 3.00pm Continuing our anniversary celebrations, here is a profound, fresh and important perspective from one of the greatest of writers and broadcasters on India, Sir Mark Tully. India’s Unending Journey is a personal and resonant look at the many lessons India can teach in terms of economic growth, poverty relief, education and more. Chaired by Magnus Linklater. £7.00 £5.00 Jim Crace FINE FICTION ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm One of the most linguistically and imaginatively inventive of novelists, Jim Crace has been described as a ‘writer of hallucinatory skill’ by John Updike. His fiction constantly breaks new ground, whether exploring Christ in the wilderness (Quarantine), an erotic banquet (The Devil’s Larder) or now, in The Pesthouse, a dark, powerful and unsettling fable of an America plunged into a medieval future. Come and meet one of the finest writers at work today. £7.00 £5.00 Peter Godwin & Lauren St John FOCUS ON AFRICA Peppers Theatre 4.00pm Two moving memoirs of Zimbabwe. Lauren St John eloquently and affectingly describes childhood on an African farm during the Rhodesian bush war and the euphoria of the early days of independence. Peter Godwin, in a deeply personal tale, laments his dying father and a now dying land, catastrophically damaged by dictatorship. £7.00 £5.00 Martha Kearney & Sue MacGregor WOMEN AND SOCIETY RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm Join two of Britain’s leading and most authoritative broadcasters as they celebrate the 60th anniversary of the BBC’s Woman’s Hour, that enlightening and empowering national institution, which has interviewed the world’s most powerful women as well as charting the changing social and cultural history of the post-war years. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. £7.00 £5.00 Tabish Khair & Indra Sinha WRITERS OF THE WORLD Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm Our Writers Of The World series now welcomes two superb Indian authors with very different perspectives on their homeland. Tabish Khair, now living in Denmark, weaves major historical events including the Partition of India into Filming, a many-layered tale of the rise of the Indian film industry. Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People is an extraordinary narrative of a man grotesquely damaged by the Bhopal disaster. £5.00 £3.00 adult 21/5/07 5:38 PM Page 31 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Saturday 25 August 2007 Robert Macfarlane NATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm We are delighted to launch the major new book from one of the finest nature writers at work today. The Wild Places is multi award-winning Robert Macfarlane’s search for wilderness in the British Isles, an intellectual and physical journey through time and space, a personal and beautiful evocation of our changing ideas of wildness. Chaired by Sheena Macdonald. £7.00 £5.00 Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series WRITE TO LIFE Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Today: The refugee writing group at the Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture. Among those appearing: Janet Paisley. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event Segun Afolabi & Helon Habila FOCUS ON AFRICA Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm Two Nigerian-born writers, both winners of the Caine Prize for African Writing, bring outstanding new work to the Book Festival. Segun Afolabi’s stories deal beautifully with immigration, with those who belong and those who don’t. He continues the theme in his first novel Goodbye Lucille. Helon Habila’s Measuring Time is a heart-wrenching history of Nigeria seen through the eyes of rural twins making their different ways in the world. £5.00 £3.00 James Tait Black Awards LITERATURE AND CULTURE RBS Main Theatre 6.30pm For the first time, Scotland and the UK’s oldest and most prestigious literary awards, founded in 1919, are presented by the University of Edinburgh live in public at the Book Festival. Past winners include D H Lawrence, Graham Greene, E M Forster, Aldous Huxley and William Golding. Join James Naughtie as he announces the 2007 winners for fiction and biography. In association with The University of Edinburgh £8.00 £6.00 Sunny Jacobs LIVED LIVES ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm How is it possible to survive a wrongful conviction which leads to years on death row and in solitary confinement, the death of your parents, the loss of your children and the hideously botched execution of your partner? Sunny Jacobs’s tale is almost unimaginable, yet testimony to her extraordinary resilience and almost unthinkable ability to forgive. £8.00 £6.00 Janet Paisley & Donald Smith HISTORY Peppers Theatre 7.00pm Two superb Scottish historical novels. Donald Smith, director of the Scottish Storytelling Centre, continues our examination of the Union with a colourful look at Daniel Defoe’s spying for the English government in Scotland. Multi award-winning Janet Paisley uncovers the remarkable forgotten story of ‘Colonel Anne’, an inspiring tale of a feisty female who rose up against her husband in the Jacobite rebellion. Changing Climate, Changing World THE OPEN UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENT SERIES Highland Park Spiegeltent 7.30pm – 8.45pm George Monbiot is the most passionate, eloquent, informed and essential commentator on the current world order and what climate change implies for us all. Join him and Andrew Simms, director of the New Economics Foundation, to discuss what needs urgently to be done. £8.00 £6.00 Philippe Grimbert & Pierre Péju WRITERS OF THE WORLD Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm The finest contemporary French fiction, revealing how events of the Second World War resonate through the generations. Internationally acclaimed Pierre Péju first visited the Book Festival with the haunting The Girl from the Chartreuse; he returns with the brand new Clara’s Tale. Philippe Grimbert’s Secret, based on his own personal story, also resonantly shows the hidden legacy of war. £5.00 £3.00 Lionel Shriver MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm Since winning the Orange Prize with the unflinching We Need To Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver has been recognised as a major and utterly original literary talent (and superb columnist and critic). Her brilliant new novel The Post-Birthday World imagines two parallel lives for a woman, with two differently flawed partners. £8.00 £6.00 A L Kennedy COMEDY ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm One of the most extraordinarily gifted novelists of her generation, A L Kennedy has in recent years also found new success as a stand-up comic. Come and hear her inspired monologue about the many absurdities of the writing life and hold onto your seats. £8.00 £6.00 Ron Butlin, Ewan Morrison & Dan Rhodes FINE FICTION Peppers Theatre 8.30pm Three of Scotland’s finest. We are delighted to launch Ron Butlin’s new collection of stories, No More Angels; comic and tragic tales of human frailty. The frailty of the flesh is exposed in Ewan Morrison’s debut novel about the world of ‘swinging’; while Dan Rhodes shows all his quirky, unpredictable wit in the delightful and moving Gold. £8.00 £6.00 Spiegelbar Highland Park Spiegeltent Come and relax and listen to live music. from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Free – open to all £8.00 £6.00 Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 52 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 33 adult 15/5/07 12:46 PM Page 32 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Sunday 26 August 2007 Stevie Davies & Anne Enright WAKE UP TO WORDS Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am An utterly transforming start to Sunday morning with two exceptional novelists from Wales and Ireland. Stevie Davies should have national treasure status; The Eyrie looks at a group of remarkable women – a Scots ex-communist in her eighties among them. Anne Enright’s startling prose lights up The Gathering as the Hegarty clan assemble, with death, sex and secrets in the air. Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 Peter Chapman, Raj Patel & Andrew Simms GLOBAL WORLD Peppers Theatre 2.30pm The history, effects and future of globalisation and the food industry brilliantly analysed. Peter Chapman’s Jungle Capitalists looks at how banana importer United Fruit set the precedent for multinational greed. Andrew Simms, director of think tank the New Economics Foundation, gives a devastating analysis of supermarket domination in Tescopoly; while brilliant young economist and activist Raj Patel explains deep world inequities in Stuffed and Starved. D T Max £7.00 £5.00 Peppers Theatre 11.00am The Family That Couldn’t Sleep is a captivating account of insomnia, prions, Mad Cow Disease and more. New York writer D T Max, who himself suffers from a degenerative disease, has researched the strange hereditary affliction of a noble Venetian family and the rogue protein that causes their suffering – one that has implications for a range of human diseases. SLAVERY STORIES POPULAR SCIENCE £7.00 £5.00 Joanne Harris RBS Main Theatre 3.00pm In this anniversary year of the abolition of slavery, William Wilberforce has regained his rightful place in the nations’ memory – not least through the film Amazing Grace. The former Conservative leader’s major biography illustrates the passion and principle of a hugely influential figure who dedicated his life to ending an abomination. Chaired by Iain Macwhirter. £7.00 £5.00 Valerie Martin & Ann Patchett BSL INTERNATIONAL FICTION MEET THE AUTHOR RBS Main Theatre 11.30am The beloved creator of Chocolat, made into a hugely successful film with Juliette Binoche, returns to the French territory and the family she has made her own. The long-awaited sequel, The Lollipop Shoes, tells of a family living above their little chocolate shop in Montmartre – and their secrets about to be revealed... £7.00 £5.00 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENT SERIES ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon The most eloquent and charismatic of all campaigners for environmental and social change, George Monbiot possesses a unique combination of vast knowledge and inspirational vision. Heat: How To Stop The Planet Burning is indispensable in its detail, its polemic and its practical, powerful solutions. £7.00 £5.00 Diana & Michael Preston FOCUS ON INDIA Peppers Theatre 12.30pm The story of the Taj Mahal is a story of love, beauty, excess and the decline of a great empire. Husband and wife team Diana and Michael Preston tell the tale behind the gleaming marble in A Teardrop On The Cheek Of Time. £7.00 £5.00 Alaa Al Aswany WRITERS OF THE WORLD Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm We are delighted to bring a major Egyptian novelist and commentator to the Book Festival, offering a unique glimpse into a complex society. Alaa Al Aswany’s The Yacoubian Building caused a huge stir upon publication in Egypt and has become an international bestseller, for its rich celebration of the people and its highly charged portrayal of a society rife with corruption. £5.00 £3.00 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm A dream double bill of two of America’s major and most admired novelists, both winners of the Orange Prize, on a rare and special visit to the Book Festival. Ann Patchett’s Run shows a New England father with adopted twins, an accident on a winter’s night and some hard truths about love, family and politics. Valerie Martin’s brand new Trespass also brilliantly shows how families (here, Serbian refugees and upper class American academics) are formed and pulled apart. £7.00 £5.00 George Monbiot 34 William Hague 11 – 27 August 2007 Angus Peter Campbell & Aonghas MacNeacail GAELIC CULTURE Peppers Theatre 4.00pm A highly significant literary occasion – in the year of Highland 2007, the celebration of Highland culture, literature and language, two of the leading Gaelic poets of our day launch major new collections at the Book Festival. Angus Peter Campbell's forthcoming volume features rich and resonant Scots translations as well as his own eloquent Gaelic and English. Both are mesmerising performers of their own work – come and hear the ancient language of our land. £7.00 £5.00 Bruce Durie & Joyce Holms CRIME Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm Fine Scottish crime of the past and present. Bruce Durie, Victorian crime expert (as well as leading science writer), has edited an anthology of the intriguing writings of Allan Pinkerton, the original ‘Private Eye’ who founded the eponymous nineteenth century detective agency. Joyce Holms sets her own highly popular detective series in Edinburgh. £5.00 £3.00 David Cannadine HISTORY ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm One of the leading historians of our age comes to the Book Festival with a masterpiece of research and insight. Andrew Mellon was the great American financier and treasury secretary who set the US on the rocky course to global economic power – credited for both the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression. £7.00 £5.00 adult 15/5/07 12:47 PM Page 33 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Sunday 26 August 2007 Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series POETRY AND POLITICS Peppers Theatre 5.30pm – 6.15pm Our daily free readings in solidarity with writers facing persecution for their thoughts and words. Today: Poetry can provide a slightly more subtle way of criticizing governments, but poets suffer with other writers from harassment and imprisonment. Among those appearing: Valerie Martin. Free: Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event Moris Farhi & Latife Tekin WRITERS OF THE WORLD Writers’ Retreat 6.00pm Turkish fiction offering another window into that endlessly fascinating, complex land. Latife Tekin is a major bestseller: her Swords of Ice illumines the tragic-comic struggle of the poor in the surreal world of commerce. Moris Farhi, senior international literary figure, shows teenagers coming of age in a multiracial Turkey against the backdrop of Nazism. £5.00 £3.00 Jeremy Paxman THE DICKSON MINTO EVENT RBS Main Theatre 6.30pm The notoriously acerbic and combative BBC Newsnight presenter turns his unafraid gaze onto royalty, asking a few crucial questions – who they are, what they represent, what they actually do all day, why millions still cherish them and others do not. Hugely intelligent and highly entertaining. Chaired by Iain Macwhirter. £8.00 £6.00 Michael Rosen POETRY ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm One of the most exhilaratingly joyous writers for children, Michael Rosen has also written moving and compelling adult work. His collected poetry gathers prose poems from his memoirs, about his childhood, his trainee days at the BBC and later, the tragic death of his son. Come and see a master at work. £8.00 £6.00 Craig Davidson & Nathan Englander INTERNATIONAL FICTION Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm Two powerful debut novels from Canada and the US. Canadian Craig Davidson has already won massive praise for his hard-edged, muscular stories; now in The Fighter, he digs into the world of underground boxing and the tensions between fathers and sons. Nathan Englander too is a hugely talented story writer; The Ministry of Special Cases offers a stunning vision of bureaucratic nightmare and turmoil in Argentina. £5.00 £3.00 Linda Colley THE RSA LECTURES: NATIONS UNLIMITED RBS Main Theatre 8.00pm One of the most authoritative writers on nations and identity, Linda Colley offers an extraordinary global biography of the eighteenth century adventurer Elizabeth Marsh – caught up in trade, imperialism, war, migration, and new ideas. A dazzling and original look into the geo-political transformations revealed by a life. £8.00 £6.00 Suzanne Andrade, Brian Dewan, John Hegley & Simon Munnery THE COMIC BOOK PROJECT EVENT ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm In a wildly inventive link-up with the Comic Book Project, we present a multi-media extravaganza. Compère and poet John Hegley will also present cards he has co-produced with a cartoonist. Comedian Simon Munnery will conduct a video interview with himself, Suzanne Andrade will perform her poetry with projected animations and New York artist Brian Dewan will show hand-painted film accompanied by readings and autoharp. A Book Festival event like no other... Part of the Collective Gallery’s The Comic Book Project featuring events at Edinburgh International Film Festival (www.edfilmfest.org.uk) and the Traverse Theatre (www.traverse.co.uk) £8.00 £6.00 Iain Moireach Kenneth White Peppers Theatre 7.00pm Continuing our celebration of Highland 2007, we bring new Gaelic writing from the Hebrides. The celebrated Lewis short story writer Iain Moireach (John Murray) is also a fine dramatist, and he here discusses and reads from his new collection of plays, Snìomh nan Dual. £8.00 £6.00 Peppers Theatre GAELIC CULTURE The Future of Nature GENES AND SOCIETY Highland Park Spiegeltent 7.30pm – 8.45pm Intelligent plants and biocomputing: the old boundaries are breaking down as the stuff of life is used in ever more inventive and remarkable ways. Oliver Morton examines how plants may be used in the future. Martyn Amos is a pioneer of DNA computing, where genetic material, the new ‘wetware’, may be used to programme: a breathtaking glimpse into a future where the nature of life itself is reassessed. LITERATURE AND CULTURE 8.30pm The fresh force field of Kenneth White’s thinking brings new intellectual stimulation to each Book Festival. One of Scotland’s most influential exiles, internationally renowned and studied, his work, including his new discipline of ‘geopoetics’, defies stale literary boundaries. Tonight he speaks on Writing and Radicality. Come and be galvanised. £8.00 £6.00 Spiegelbar Highland Park Spiegeltent Come and relax and listen to live music. from 9.00pm Sponsored by Highland Park Free – open to all Supported by the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum £8.00 £6.00 Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 53 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 35 adult 15/5/07 12:47 PM Page 34 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Monday 27 August 2007 Robert Crawford David Robb Highland Park Spiegeltent 10.15am One of Scotland’s finest contemporary poets, chronicler of the history of Scottish literature since the Union in this resonant anniversary year, investigator of the links between science and poetry – Robert Crawford is a virtual one-stop shop for everything that matters about Scottish literature. Who better to begin our last day? Writers’ Retreat 2.00pm Our final day celebrations of Scottish literature continue with an overdue biography of Alexander Scott, a hugely influential figure in our post-war culture, whose vigorous poems in English and Scots enlivened and informed the Scottish literary renaissance and whose wide-ranging cultural energies and activities helped shape modern Scottish literature and society. £5.00 £3.00 WAKE UP TO WORDS SCOTTISH LITERATURE Free coffee and pastries. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters £7.00 £5.00 Adam Ardrey & Alistair Moffat SCOTTISH HISTORY Peppers Theatre 11.00am Border Reivers and the truth behind the legend of Merlin: rich unusual paths of Scottish history unwind. Alistair Moffat, former Fringe director, TV executive, and creator of the Borders Book Festival in Melrose lights up the history of his beloved border lands. Adam Ardrey also argues convincingly that Merlin the magician was a Scot. £7.00 £5.00 Niall Ferguson Nicholas Harberd & Oliver Morton POPULAR SCIENCE Peppers Theatre 2.30pm The secret life of plants unveiled in this fascinating event on the invisible processes which drive the beauty of the natural world. Nicholas Harberd, leading plant biologist, writes exquisitely in Seed To Seed not just of the changing seasons but of hidden genetic mechanisms. In Eating The Sun, Oliver Morton brilliantly explains the miracle of photosynthesis, the source of life itself. £7.00 £5.00 Craig Murray NATIONS UNLIMITED BSL THE BAILLIE GIFFORD EVENT RBS Main Theatre 11.30am Provocative and brilliant, Niall Ferguson is one of the most admired and controversial Scottish historians and commentators in the world today. His acerbic intelligence, vast knowledge and bracing views are never less than stimulating. His masterpiece is the brilliant The War Of The World about the hatreds of the twentieth century. Chaired by Iain Macwhirter. £7.00 £5.00 Jill Scharff with Richard Holloway MATTERS OF THE MIND ScottishPower Studio Theatre 12 noon The complexities of the human mind, relationships and mental health were explored in pioneering depth by John (Jock) D Sutherland, leading Scottish psychoanalyst. His hugely influential writings on the self in society have been gathered by expert Jill Scharff, who here talks to Richard Holloway about the crucial lessons they teach us. Supported by the Sutherland Trust and the Scottish Institute for Human Relations £7.00 £5.00 Andrey Kurkov & Ronan Bennett FINE FICTION Peppers Theatre 12.30pm A glorious double bill. Andrey Kurkov’s Penguin novels have become cult international bestsellers; his last visit to the Book Festival was massively popular. He comes from the Ukraine with his latest hilarious satire, The President’s Last Love spanning forty years of Soviet and Ukrainian love, power, corruption, lies and potatoes. Ronan Bennett’s Zugzwang is set in Kurkov’s birthplace of St Petersburg; a compelling thriller. £7.00 £5.00 Fred Freeman LITERATURE AND CULTURE ScottishPower Studio Theatre 2.00pm ‘I am a fiddler and a poet': The Songs of Robert Burns. Burns is represented as Scotland's national 'poet', yet he was primarily a songwriter. This illustrated talk by scholar and expert Fred Freeman, who has recorded all of Burns songs in a groundbreaking series with Scotland’s finest traditional musicians, considers Burns's background as a folk musician and his innovative use of traditional dance and instrumental forms. £7.00 £5.00 ScottishPower Studio Theatre 3.30pm Murder in Samarkand is the no-holds-barred account of the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, characterful Scot Craig Murray. Refusing to keep quiet about alleged abuses of human rights, the high-living diplomat started to question his role and that of Britain in the ‘war on terror’. Candid, personal and dramatic. £7.00 £5.00 Gillian Hughes LITERATURE AND CULTURE Peppers Theatre 4.00pm One of the greatest Scottish writers of them all, James Hogg, the ‘Ettrick Shepherd’ went from ragged cowherd to famous author at a time of great social and cultural change in the early nineteenth century. In the first major new biography for many decades, Hogg scholar Gillian Hughes gives new insight into this complex genius. £7.00 £5.00 Kate Adie & Jonathan Kaplan THE GILLESPIE MACANDREW EVENT RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm One of the leading foreign correspondents of our time and a worldrespected war surgeon come together to talk about life on the front line – the personal and professional challenges, the drama and incident, even the black humour of it all. An unmissable hour with two top Book Festival favourites. £7.00 £5.00 Lesley Riddoch GAELIC CULTURE Writers’ Retreat 4.30pm In the final event of our series linked to Highland 2007, one of Scotland’s most prominent broadcasters tells of her bicycle journey through the Western Isles, discovering the rapid decline of Gaelic culture in its remaining heartland. She argues passionately that modern Scotland needs the diversity and cultural DNA the Gaels uniquely provide. £5.00 £3.00 Douglas Gifford THE SCOTTISH PEN LECTURE ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm To celebrate the 80th anniversary of Scottish PEN, the organisation which campaigns for freedom of expression for writers everywhere, one of the most knowledgeable and respected experts on Scottish literature looks back at the last eight decades of Scottish writing, and the enormous change and dynamism within it. £7.00 £5.00 36 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 adult 15/5/07 12:48 PM Page 35 Book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Monday 27 August 2007 Beth Junor Sergio della Sala MATTERS OF THE MIND Peppers Theatre LITERATURE AND CULTURE 5.30pm Writers’ Retreat 7.30pm Tall Tales About the Mind and Brain is a fascinating exploration of the many myths and beliefs about our brain: can mind conquer matter and diseases? Can listening to Mozart make us more intelligent? Sergio della Sala, Professor of Human Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh takes us on a colourful and accessible journey towards the truth. £7.00 £5.00 Hugh MacDiarmid was the great colossus of twentieth century Scottish literature, though often lived in conditions of great hardship. A new revealing collection of correspondence between him and his wife Valda Grieve is peopled by a huge, global cast of characters from the Grieves's artistic, political and community life, asking us to revise previously held notions of loyalty, work, poverty and culture. £5.00 £3.00 Allan Guthrie & Stuart MacBride Richard Holloway Writers’ Retreat RBS Main Theatre CRIME 6.00pm Two of the spectacular stars of the burgeoning Scottish crime scene come together in a satisfyingly tough and gritty hour of dark plotting and murder in the mean streets of Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Stuart MacBride shows the Granite City in a new and unsettling light; Allan Guthrie reveals the hard side of the capital. £5.00 £3.00 8.00pm Richard Holloway is at the heart of Scotland’s culture, charged with bringing into being the new organisation which will govern the arts. He is philosopher, former bishop and writer of over twenty intensely thoughtful books. Who better to talk about the kind of country Scotland might aspire to be? Join him on this final night of the Book Festival in this special address on Imagining Scotland. £8.00 £6.00 Clarissa Dickson Wright Carol Ann Duffy THE GILLESPIE MACANDREW EVENT RBS Main Theatre LITERATURE AND CULTURE 6.30pm A dramatic and colourful memoir of one of the nation’s best-loved cooks and TV presenters. Clarissa Dickson Wright, born into wealth and privilege, was the youngest woman ever called to the Bar. She details her descent into alcoholism and personal tragedy and her climb back up to sobriety and fame with trademark wit and directness. £8.00 £6.00 POETRY ScottishPower Studio Theatre 8.30pm We must end with poetry, and only the best, most rapturous poetry at that. Carol Ann Duffy epitomises the spirit of this festival – generous, open, in love with language. Sit back and listen to one of the most seductively captivating poets in the land, and store and cherish the power of the words until next year. £8.00 £6.00 William Gibson FINE FICTION ScottishPower Studio Theatre 7.00pm A rare and significant visit from a groundbreaking North American master, bringing his brand new novel to Scotland. William Gibson invented the term ‘cyberspace’ and his work, ever since the international bestseller Neuromancer, has been at the cutting edge of futuristic visions of society. His new work Spook Country, set in our more recognisable world, is a major event. £8.00 £6.00 Roddy Martine 7.00pm Forget The Da Vinci Code and its many offshoots. In The Secrets of Rosslyn Roddy Martine looks carefully at 600 years of history of the beautiful and mysterious Rosslyn Chapel, sorts fact from fantasy and shows that the truth is indeed stranger than fiction. £8.00 £6.00 Closing Ceilidh MUSIC AND DANCING Highland Park Spiegeltent In association with Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Michael Ondaatje Tuesday 2 October, 8.00pm Queens Hall HISTORY Peppers Theatre Special Book Festival Autumn Evening 7.30pm Our much-loved annual celebration of the close of the Book Festival. Dance the night away with Bella McNab’s Dance Band, the finest Scottish traditional music. £8.00 £6.00 We are overjoyed to bring one of the world’s greatest living writers to Scotland in a special October event. The English Patient won the Booker Prize and Anthony Minghella’s film won a remarkable nine Oscars. Now the Sri Lankan-born author comes to Edinburgh from his home in Canada with another masterpiece, Divisadero, another sweeping, elegiac tale told in breathtaking, shimmering prose. A farmer and his teenage daughters work the land with the help of an enigmatic young man – until an act of violence shatters their lives. Possession and loss, love and memory resonate through this remarkable work from a legendary novelist. Come and meet him. Tickets £8.00 £6.00 This event takes place at the Queens Hall, Clerk Street, Edinburgh. Tickets can be booked with the Book Festival Box Office 0845 373 5888 www.edbookfest.co.uk or with the Queens Hall Box Office 0131 668 2019 www.thequeenshall.net If you have any special requirements such as wheelchair access or you think you may need assistance, please discuss your needs with the Queens Hall Box Office. Latecomers will not be admitted after the start of events and no refunds will be given. Events are 1 hour long unless otherwise stated and all take place in Charlotte Square Gardens. See today’s children’s events on page 54 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 37 kids section 07 15/5/07 6:14 PM Page 1 Welcome to the RBS Children’s Programme, a fantastic celebration of books and stories for all ages. We are firmly committed to engaging, encouraging and entertaining young people from infancy to adulthood in a variety of ways and hope you’ll join us as we explore and play with the best and brightest in children’s and young adult literature this August. We’ve a million ways to share books with you so come along for the celebration and be inspired. Whether it’s rhymes Important information for adults Helping you and your youngsters enjoy your time at the Book Festival How long are children’s events? All events last one hour unless otherwise indicated on the event listing. Do I have to accompany my child to author events? We would suggest adults accompany children under ten to all events, except workshop activities (see below). Do I have to accompany my child in a workshop? Adults are not specifically required to accompany children to workshops since they are small sessions. If you would like to attend 38 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L and pictures, stories and plays or graphic novels and politics, we have events that cater to every taste and inspire every imagination. Indeed, there is no end to our lifelong love affair with the power of words in all their forms. Join us for a celebration unlike any other in the world and discover something wonderful with us this summer. Sara Grady Children & Education Programme Director Latecomers policy To ensure events remain enjoyable and relaxing for you and for authors, please be aware we do not admit latecomers into events once the doors have been closed and we give no refunds on tickets purchased. We recognise however that parents with very young children may need to leave the venue unexpectedly. Our staff are How can I tell if the event is a workshop or not? on hand to help you leave as discreetly as All workshops take place in the RBS Workshop possible, and to help you back in should you Tent. Events in all other venues are not wish to return. workshops. the workshop with your child then you are welcome to buy a ticket in the usual way. If you do not accompany your child, we would request that you stay in the gardens during the event. The gardens are the perfect place to read and relax while you are waiting for the event to end. Age suitability To help you choose, we’ve included a recommended age range for each event. These ages are carefully chosen in consultation with the publisher and author or event leader, taking into account the length, content and format. 11 – 27 August 2007 Image from Tiddler, published by Scholastic Books © illustration Axel Scheffler RBS Children’s Programme07 kids section 07 15/5/07 6:17 PM Page 2 What’s happening? Enjoy free hands-on activities for children aged up to eleven in our special Activity Corner at the rear of the RBS Children’s Bookshop. Drop in anytime from 10.30am to 5.30pm each day. On Friday 17 August join the Libraries Big Wild Read for an end of summer adventure in reading. debating Have your say with the stars of the festival. Join in with our tenacious and terrific teen authors in one of the many debates – from terrorism to DNA. learning Discover amazing new facts in our diverse range of events, jam-packed with fun. From outer space to Ancient Rome to creepy creatures, come and hear from the experts. listening Hear free storytelling, songs and poetry for all ages, every day in the RBS Imagination Lab. participating Join any of our fabulous parties and workshops with your favourite characters and stories. Create your own work of art and join in the fun and games, just don’t forget to dress up! rhyming Share stories and rhymes with babies and toddlers. Join the experts from Bookstart Edinburgh and Craigmillar Books for Babies in their rhyme events for youngsters. sharing Experience one of our events for parents and carers on telling stories and reading together. Come along, then curl up in our reading corner in the RBS Children’s Bookshop and share a story with your little ones. Meet some of the best illustrators and artists in a series of intimate sessions on their work and the business of illustrating. How do you choose an event? Flip a coin, draw a name, choose a celebrity and hope for the best? Here are just some of the fantastic things waiting to be discovered in the gardens this summer: Conservation and the Environment From environment-conscious mermaids to recycled crafts, we celebrate nature, explore our planet and learn how we can all lend a helping hand to save the environment. Graphic Novels A variety of authors, illustrators, artists and collaborators talk about how and why graphic novels are a universe unto themselves, and how ripe they are for discovery by young and old alike. Medals for Merit The 70th anniversary of The CILIP Carnegie Medal in Literature and the 50th year of The CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration are momentous landmarks for children’s literature. We have ten past winners to help us celebrate. Experience the best in children’s books from the past seventy years and get inspired. Young Adult Action – look for Freedom, genetics, terrorism and the future of Scotland are just a few of the hot topics in our all-new programme for young adults. Look out for the highlighted events in both the adult and children’s programmes; perfect for having your say or just having a laugh. Writing for Fun Writing is vital for so many things: films, plays, diaries, comics, articles, reviews, and of course, books. These days anyone can be a writer on any topic. Find out how it’s done from experts in every field. Sharing Stories Illustration: Horrid Henry © Tony Ross illustrating themes Relaxed informal sessions help you to engage your children and explore the world of words together. teaching Listen to some of the world’s top experts in education talk about working with and understanding children. Illustration: Perky Little Penguins © Guy Parker-Rees Image from Tiddler, published by Scholastic Books © illustration Axel Scheffler creating E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 39 kids section 07 15/5/07 6:18 PM Page 3 book now Saturday 11 August Jacqueline Wilson Daydreams BSL RBS Main Theatre 10.00am Our perennial star is back for her best event yet. Where does she get the ideas for her dozens and dozens of books? Her own childhood adventures of course! Come on a tour of her daydreamy world and see how all your favourites were created from Jacqueline’s own life and imagination. (Also appearing on 12 Aug for age 12 – 14). Age 8+ £3.50 Dirty Bertie with David Roberts & Alan MacDonald RBS Children’s Theatre 10.00am Mischievous and icky, Bertie is quite possibly the next Horrid Henry. The hilarious antics of this trouble-magnet make for a morning of wickedly funny stories. Sing the Dirty Bertie song while David draws the grubbiest boy in town. Don’t miss the creators of the newest, dirtiest troublemaker on the block! Age 4 – 8 £3.50 Off to Kintail RBS Imagination Lab 10.00am Your imagination can take you anywhere but it has to start somewhere: with a seed, a sparkle or maybe a shabby old hat lying at the bottom of an empty sea kist. Join Beth Cross to open your imaginative gateways – you may be surprised where you land and what you take away with you. Age 5 – 8 £3.50 Pant-astic Fun with Nick Sharratt! ScottishPower Studio Theatre 10.30am Meet the fantastic, jubilant illustrator of everything from the bestselling picture books Pants and More Pants to Jacqueline Wilson’s novels. With drawing, singing, dancing and entertaining rhymes galore, this event promises to be fun and just a little bit silly. Come and join in! Age 5 – 8 £3.50 Under the Sea Adventures with Julie Hegarty RBS Workshop Tent 10.30am Dive into a deep sea story with Harmony the Rock Star anemone! Julie Hegarty’s Michelle stories focus on friendships beneath the waves, so come along on a voyage under the sea where everyone can learn to get along! Age 5 – 7 £3.50 Linda Chapman’s Unicorns, Mermaids&Magic! RBS Children’s Theatre 11.30am Linda Chapman’s magical stories always star lucky heroines. Whether they are stardust sprites, have been adopted by mermaids or own secret unicorns, they always have grand adventures with just a sprinkle of magic. Come along for a very special ride to a place where anything can happen! Age 6 – 9 £3.50 at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Kevin Brooks ScottishPower Studio Theatre 2.00pm Can you ever actually escape yourself? Robert’s on the run. From doctors, scientists, the government – all fascinated with what he is, whatever that is! More noir than science fiction, and more gripping than gory, one of the masters of wry modern prose is back to tell all about his latest breathless thriller. Teens £3.50 Gatty’s Tale with Kevin Crossley-Holland RBS Children’s Theatre 3.00pm Master of epic storytelling, Kevin Crossley-Holland takes us on another beautiful journey. His Arthur trilogy is a testament to his narrative style and Gatty’s voyage to the Holy Land is positively stunning. Come and be inspired by a heroine for the ages. Age 10 – 14 £3.50 Nick Sharratt Masterclass RBS Workshop Tent 3.30pm – 5.30pm One of the most prolific and recognisable book artists today, Nick Sharratt is a true master. He’s illustrated for the likes of Jacqueline Wilson, Julia Donaldson and Jeremy Strong, as well as written and illustrated his own books. Find out how to create a classic picture book in his fantastic masterclass. Adults £10.00 £8.00 War’s No Game: Elizabeth Laird & Beverley Naidoo in Discussion RBS Children’s Theatre 4.30pm How do children survive the wars adults create? What is it like to live in constant fear, when all you have left is courage and the will to survive? Carnegie medallist Beverley Naidoo's latest book, Burn My Heart, explores friendship and betrayal in Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising against British settlers. Elizabeth Laird's Oranges in No Man's Land takes us to war torn Lebanon, while her novel Crusade plunges back 900 years to war in the Holyland. Come and hear the authors interview each other, and take the chance to ask your own questions. In association with Save the Children Teens & adults £3.50 Charlie & Lola RBS Imagination Lab 4.30pm Join the ever popular Charlie and his little sister Lola for one of the most fun parties ever. Play ‘I will never not ever give up my seat’ musical chairs, make a beautiful collage, and hear all about Charlie and Lola’s funny adventures with Sizzles, Soren Lorensen and the rest of the gang. (Also on 12 Aug). Age 4 – 7 £3.50 Musical Madness at Lunchtime RBS Imagination Lab 1.30pm Vibrant virtuosos Dick Lee and Anne Evans are back for a musical extravaganza the whole family can enjoy. They’ve brought lyrical games, musical puzzles and a whole host of new songs. A free drop-in event sure to leave you tapping your toes! (Also on 15, 26 Aug). All ages Free & drop-in Charlie & Lola Crafts RBS Workshop Tent 2.00pm Charlie has a little sister called Lola. She is small and very funny. Explore their world with artist Julie Dawson in a fun event where you’ll hear all about Charlie and Lola’s exploits and then get the chance to do lots of cutting, sticking and scribbling of your own. Age 4 – 7 £3.50 LATECOMERS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER THE START OF EVENTS AND NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN Story Time: Ewan McVicar RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event 40 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 kids section 07 15/5/07 6:19 PM Page 4 book now Sunday 12 August See page 58 / 59 for booking details Bounce & Tickle RBS Main Theatre 10.00am If you’ve grown up reading Jacqueline Wilson, you’ll know that her books have grown up too. Some of them, like her new book Kiss, are for older readers and teenagers. This special exclusive preview event is all about the adventures of growing up. (Also appearing on 11 Aug for 8+). Age 12 – 14 £3.50 Sue Heap & Nick Sharratt RBS Children’s Theatre 10.00am Grown-up Nick and Sue have written four special books about little Nick and Sue, working together to create both words and pictures. Come and hear all about their colourful world and share in the storytelling and picture-making process too. A fantastic interactive session with dancing, drawing and buckets of fun! Age 5 – 8 £3.50 Charlie & Lola RBS Imagination Lab 10.00am Join the ever popular Charlie and his little sister Lola for one of the most fun parties ever. Play ‘I will never not ever give up my seat’ musical chairs, make a beautiful collage, and hear all about Charlie and Lola’s funny adventures with Sizzles, Soren Lorensen and the rest of the gang. (Also on 11 Aug). Age 4 – 6 £3.50 Alexander McCall Smith ScottishPower Studio Theatre 10.30am An engaging storyteller for children of all ages, Alexander McCall Smith wrote stories for youngsters long before he found fame around the globe with his adult fiction. You’ll enjoy hearing about all your favourite characters from kooky Harriet Bean to Akimbo and his African adventures in this delightful event for the whole family. Families & 6+ £3.50 Sundae Girl with Cathy Cassidy RBS Children’s Theatre 11.30am Cathy Cassidy is back with an all-new lovable heroine whose family are a complete embarrassment – her mum is a drama queen while her dad thinks he’s Elvis! When will her life ever be normal? Everyone will adore the quirky characters and silly misadventures of Sundae Girl. Come along for a laugh and a touch of everyday magic in an event which is not just for girls! Age 10 – 14 £3.50 Bounce & Tickle RBS Imagination Lab 1.00pm – 1.30pm Engage with your child from an early age through stories and songs. Join Bookstart Edinburgh and Craigmillar Books for Babies in their trademark event of action rhymes and songs for babies and toddlers. (Also on 15, 17, 18, 23 Aug). Babies & under 3s Free – book in advance (max 4 tickets per person) Visions of Redwall with Brian Jacques 0845 373 5888 BSL RBS Main Theatre 1.30pm The Tale of Redwall series and its memorable heroes have enchanted generations of readers. From fearsome Martin the Warrior to noble Mattimeo, these breathless journeys and epic battles of honour and betrayal will captivate anyone with a true heart and a sense of adventure. This chance to celebrate the series’ twentieth anniversary with author Brian Jacques is a once-in-a-lifetime treat. Adults & 10+ £3.50 RBS Imagination Lab 2.00pm – 2.30pm A second chance to join Bookstart Edinburgh and Craigmillar Books for Babies in their trademark event of action rhymes and songs for babies and toddlers. (Also on 15, 17, 18, 23 Aug). Babies & under 3s Free – book in advance (max 4 tickets per person) Celebrating the Carnegie with Melvin Burgess, Kevin Crossley-Holland & Beverley Naidoo ScottishPower Studio Theatre 2.00pm We’re celebrating the 70th birthday of the Carnegie Medal this year. This is the first of several events dedicated to the anniversary throughout the programme. Join this star-studded panel of past winners to celebrate the best in young adult literature. Adults & 12+ £3.50 M Christina Butler & Tina Macnaughton RBS Workshop Tent 2.00pm Join author and illustrator for a story and activity workshop based on their two adorable books One Snowy Night and One Winter's Day. Hear the charming woodland adventures of Little Hedgehog and his friends and then make your own fox or hedgehog mask to take home. Age 3 – 7 £3.50 Ultimate First Book Guide with David Roberts & Nick Sharratt RBS Children’s Theatre 3.00pm Join two of the greatest picture book artists around, and book guru Leonie Flynn, for a discussion about their favourite books for young children. The Guide is a life-saving compendium of titles from old classics to rising stars, recommended by authors and illustrators. Get inspired and discover something new to read with your family. Chaired by Daniel Hahn. Families & adults £3.50 Jan Pieñkowski’s Meg and Mog RBS Workshop Tent 3.30pm Join artist Julie Dawson for a celebration of Jan Pieñkowski’s award-winning illustrations. Best known for his Meg and Mog block colour prints and his stunning silhouette fairy tales, his work is delightfully vibrant. Come and hear some of the famous stories he has illustrated and then create your own illustrations. Age 5 – 8 £3.50 Odysseus’s Grand Adventures RBS Imagination Lab 4.30pm Puppet Anima’s Carolyne Latham brings the classics to life for youngsters with this engaging, interactive puppet show. Come on a journey to Ancient Greece with Argos the dog and hear some of Odysseus’s brilliant adventures on the high seas! Age 3 – 7 £3.50 70 Years of Carnegie RBS Children’s Theatre 5.00pm The Carnegie Medal is the Academy Award of children’s literature. Come and discover from winner Theresa Breslin and judges Ian Dodds, Jonathan Douglas and Jane Sandell, which books make the cut and why. A fascinating look into the world of books for anyone who is passionate about reading or writing. Adults & 10+ £3.50 Icarus & Other Myths N RBS Children’s Theatre 1.30pm Join master storytellers Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden for new edge-of-yourseat adventures from long ago. Come and hear daring tales of the Greek heroes and legends that have entertained listeners for thousands of years. This is fun for the whole family! Families & 10+ £3.50 LATECOMERS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER THE START OF EVENTS AND NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN Story Time: Judy Paterson RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 41 Illustration: Charlie and Lola © Lauren Child Jacqueline Wilson at www.edbookfest.co.uk kids section 07 15/5/07 6:28 PM Page 5 book now Monday 13 August 100mph Roadshow with Jeremy Strong BSL RBS Main Theatre 10.00am Join Jeremy Strong for this fast-paced action-packed event. Learn the secrets of The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog and help perform a one minute speedreading of the story. It’s a barrel of laughs for anyone with a funny bone! Age 7 – 9 £3.50 Reading Around Edinburgh RBS Children’s Theatre 10.00am Edinburgh as you’ve never seen it before! For locals and visitors alike, this city is full of stories. Authors Anne Forbes, Vivian French and J A Henderson explain how their favourite city inspires their stories – from friendly neighbourhoods to dragons and underground caves. Hear the tales, then go and see the sights for yourself! Families & 8+ £3.50 Flower Fairies RBS Imagination Lab 10.00am Do you believe in fairies? Learn the magical secrets of the enchanting creatures that live among us in forests and gardens – the Flower Fairies. Come dressed as your favourite fairy and join us in a dance to celebrate the summer! (Also on 14 Aug). Age 4 – 7 £3.50 Myths & Monsters. Let the Odyssey Begin! ScottishPower Studio Theatre 10.30am Join Dugald Steer for a highly interactive event with gods, monsters, myths and magic. Get caught up in magical quests and high-seas adventure and hear about the dangerous gods who dabble in mischief. Mythology is an extraordinary journey following on from his swashbuckling Pirateology and the magical Dragonology. Age 8 – 12 £3.50 Baby Bookworms RBS Workshop Tent 10.30am This fun interactive workshop for adult and baby pairs will demonstrate how even the youngest babies can enjoy rhythm and rhyme whilst exploring texture, shape and sound. It provides your baby with the perfect foundation from which to embark upon a lifelong appreciation of language and reading. (Also on 15 Aug). Age 3 – 9 months £3.50 (tickets are sold in pairs – for one adult and one baby. Max 2 pairs of tickets per person) Stone Hearts & Iron Hands with Charlie Fletcher RBS Children’s Theatre 11.30am What if all the statues in the city were to come alive – the gargoyles and soldiers, the dragons and lions – and most of them were out to get you? Come on a wild adventure through London where pterodactyls lunge past double-decker buses and sphinxes tell riddles – there is no end to the excitement! Chaired by Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust. Age 8 – 12 £3.50 Myths & Models RBS Workshop Tent 12 noon – 1.30pm Create your own three-headed dog, giant hydra or statue of Hercules. Join artist Linda McCann and make a 3D model of one of your favourite myths or legends in a workshop where your own tale of adventure can really come to life! Age 6+ £3.50 at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Dragon’s Eye with Dugald Steer RBS Children’s Theatre 1.30pm Did you know there are hundreds of different kinds of dragons? Learn all about them in this lively and engaging event with true dragonologist Dugald Steer, famous for his ‘ologies’ on everything from pirates to wizards and dragons to myths! Age 8 – 12 £3.50 Ladybird Tales: The Gingerbread Man RBS Workshop Tent 2.30pm Come and enjoy a traditional fairy tale from Ladybird Books in this magical storytelling event which is sure to captivate young listeners. Parents and children alike will enjoy hearing this much-loved classic told in an interactive way. (Also on 15 Aug). Age 3 – 7 £3.50 Dark Tales from theWoods with Daniel Morden RBS Children’s Theatre 3.00pm Come on a trek through the dark and wondrous forest to hear magical gypsy tales rich with the mystery of the Welsh landscape, each with their own glorious hero or heroine. These tales come alive in the hands of Daniel Morden and like those of the brothers Grimm, grip the imagination and don’t let go. Age 8+ £3.50 Poems United RBS Children’s Theatre 4.30pm Enjoy hearing poems collected from over seventy different Commonwealth countries. Festival favourites Diana Hendry and Hamish Whyte recite poems of every sort and in every style (some include drums!) so come along to hear a world of words and join in with one of your own masterpieces. Families & 8+ £3.50 Harry Horse’s Ogopogo in Picture & Song RBS Imagination Lab 4.30pm Harry Horse’s classic The Ogopogo is brought to life through music and drawing in an event for the whole family with Dick Lee. Originally inspired by his improvised collaborations with Harry Horse, Dick brings new vitality to the story using a whole host of instruments. Come and hear the singing sea monster for yourself and join in as part of the percussion section! (Also on 19 Aug). All ages £3.50 Melvin Burgess: Out for Blood The Bower Bird with Ann Kelley RBS Children’s Theatre 6.00pm Gussie is one of those characters who is so easy to love. Spunky and endlessly optimistic, the poignant story of her move from London to the coastal wilds whilst battling a heart condition was a stunning debut; her continuing story is guaranteed to find new fans. Teens & adults £3.50 Perform a Jeremy Strong Story RBS Imagination Lab 1.00pm – 2.30pm Help to make Jeremy Strong’s stories spring to life by adding props, costumes and sound effects. Parents and carers can leave their young artists and come back at 2.15pm for a special performance, just ask for a free VIP ticket when booking. Age 5 – 8 £3.50 LATECOMERS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER THE START OF EVENTS AND NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN Story Time: Fergus McNicol RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event 42 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 BSL ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm The Godfather of teen fiction, Melvin Burgess writes like no other. He reckons Bloodsong is his best book, and its sequel Bloodtide is equally stellar. Brutal episodes of wartime violence are counterbalanced by a tragic love story; one thing is for sure, you’ll be in for a wild and thrilling ride! Teens £3.50 kids section 07 15/5/07 6:21 PM Page 6 book now Tuesday 14 August at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Once Upon a Fairy Tale RBS Workshop Tent 2.00pm Handsome princes, beautiful princesses, wicked wizards and many more magical characters come to life with Edinburgh City Libraries Youth Services. Dress up as your favourite fairy tale character and join us for a mix of enchanting tales and spellbinding crafts, all with a guaranteed happy ending. Age 5 – 8 Free – book in advance Flower Fairies RBS Imagination Lab 4.30pm Do you believe in fairies? Learn the magical secrets of the enchanting creatures that live among us in forests and gardens – the Flower Fairies. Come dressed as your favourite fairy and join us in a dance to celebrate summer! (Also on 13 Aug). Age 4 – 7 £3.50 In My Own Words THE CHILDREN IN EUROPE EVENT Where’s Spot? RBS Imagination Lab 10.00am Where’s Spot? Have you seen him? Join in the fun with this storytelling event featuring games, dancing and the chance to meet the world’s most lovable puppy! Age 3 – 5 £3.50 Storymaking Together RBS Workshop Tent 10.30am Join professional storyteller Beth Cross for an imaginative and lively session of performing stories using crafts, sounds and play. Participate in telling stories and then make up your own! In association with the Scottish Storytelling Centre Age 6 – 10 £3.50 RBS Children’s Theatre 5.30pm ‘When I speak Thai my voice sounds different. My voice in Thai sounds much higher. And my English voice sounds deep’ says the youngest contributor to Children in Europe's current exploration of how services for young children are responding to an increasingly multilingual society. Do our encounters with languages, whether indigenous or migrant, help shape our lives? A lively and colourful debate with a multilingual panel, including Scottish Gaelic folklorist and singer Margaret Bennett, French writer and journalist François Chignac and Irish writer and broadcaster Manchán Magan. In association with Children in Europe Teachers & adults £3.50 Freedoms and Fear RBS Children’s Theatre 7.00pm How would you feel if your DNA profile were on a national database? Would this affect your personal freedom? How could a database of this sort benefit society? Which should be the priority, personal liberty or public safety? Join the Scottish Youth Parliament and the experts: human rights lawyer Piya D Muqit and Tom Nelson, Director of Forensic Services for the Scottish Police Services Authority for a lively debate on a remarkably complex issue. Activity Time with Spot RBS Workshop Tent 12 noon – 1.30pm An afternoon of crafts and activities with artist Linda McCann based on the ever-lovable Spot the Dog. Make Spot puppets, bookmarks or decorate a box for the adorable puppy to sleep in. Age 4 – 6 £3.50 Peter Rabbit & Friends RBS Imagination Lab 1.00pm Hop along to this charming interactive puppet show where The Tale of Peter Rabbit is brought to life. Help Peter escape from Mr McGregor's garden, and don't miss special appearances from some of Beatrix Potter’s other famous characters. Age 4 – 7 £3.50 Supported by the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum Teens & adults £3.50 LATECOMERS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER THE START OF EVENTS AND NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN Story Time: Diana Hendry RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 43 kids section 07 15/5/07 4:00 PM Page 7 book now Wednesday 15 August Bounce & Tickle RBS Imagination Lab 10.00am – 10.30am Engage with your child from an early age through stories and songs. Join Bookstart Edinburgh and Craigmillar Books for Babies in their trademark event of action rhymes and songs for babies and toddlers. (Also on 12, 17, 18, 23 Aug). Babies & under 3s Free – book in advance (max 4 tickets per person) Baby Bookworms RBS Workshop Tent 10.30am This fun interactive workshop for adult and baby pairs will demonstrate how even the youngest babies can enjoy rhythm and rhyme whilst exploring texture, shape and sound. It provides your baby with the perfect foundation from which to embark upon a lifelong appreciation of language and reading. (Also on 13 Aug). Age 3 – 9 months £3.50 (tickets are sold in pairs – for one adult and one baby. Max 2 pairs of tickets per person) 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Heroes vs Villains: Darren Shan vs Mark Walden ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm Do you cheer when the hero wins the day or do you secretly love the clever villain? Come and join authors Darren Shan and Mark Walden in the great debate – who is more fun, the goodies or the baddies? Cast your vote on some of the greatest characters of all time! Families & 8+ £3.50 Fantastic Fiction Comes to Life RBS Workshop Tent 5.00pm – 7.00pm Create a sculpture of a fictional character with a little help from one of Scotland’s most innovative artists; Linda McCann is back with her one-of-akind model-making event. Breathe new life into your favourite hero or villain in this unique and highly creative workshop. All materials are provided – just bring your imagination and watch your creation take form. Adults £10.00 £8.00 Sharing Stories: A Storytelling Workshop for Adults Bounce & Tickle RBS Imagination Lab 11.00am – 11.30am A second chance to join Bookstart Edinburgh and Craigmillar Books for Babies in their trademark event of action rhymes and songs for babies and toddlers. (Also on 12, 17, 18, 23 Aug). Babies & under 3s Free – book in advance (max 4 tickets per person) Ladybird Tales: The Gingerbread Man RBS Imagination Lab 5.00pm – 7.00pm Boost your confidence and develop your own storytelling style, making the most of your natural talents, in this inspirational workshop. Professional storyteller Bea Ferguson shows you how to make stories come alive. Explore the tradition of storytelling; learn how to memorise a story and make it your own and how to create your own stories based on your environment. In association with the Scottish Storytelling Centre Teachers & adults £5.00 RBS Workshop Tent 12 noon Come and enjoy a traditional fairy tale from Ladybird Books in this magical storytelling event which is sure to captivate young listeners. Parents and children alike will enjoy hearing this much-loved classic told in an interactive way. (Also on 13 Aug). Age 3 – 7 £3.50 Musical Madness at Lunchtime RBS Imagination Lab 1.30pm Vibrant virtuosos Dick Lee and Anne Evans are back for a musical extravaganza the whole family can enjoy. They’ve brought lyrical games, musical puzzles and a whole host of new songs. A free drop-in event sure to leave you tapping your toes! (Also on 11, 26 Aug). All ages Free & drop-in Where the Wild Things Are RBS Workshop Tent 2.00pm Max became King of the Wild Things (creatures with gnashing teeth and slashing claws!) by giving them a scary look. Dress up as a scary monster, come and hear the story and then create your own monster crafts with artist Julie Dawson. Age 5 – 8 £3.50 LATECOMERS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER THE START OF EVENTS AND NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN Story Time: Marion Kenny RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event 44 at www.edbookfest.co.uk E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 kids section 07 16/5/07 8:26 AM Page 8 book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 Thursday 16 August Scots Rhymes for Wee Folk RBS Imagination Lab 10.00am – 10.30am Join Craigmillar Books for Babies for an event of Scots songs and rhymes for your wee bairns, including old favourites such as Wee Willie Winkie and Katie Bairdie. Babies & toddlers Free – book in advance (max 4 tickets per person) The Wide White Page See page 58 / 59 for booking details Darren Shan RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm Come prepared for nail-biting suspense and gruesome horror with the master of the supernatural, Darren Shan. Blood Beast, the latest instalment of his Demonata series, is a thrill-a-minute ride – get ready to enter your worst nightmare! Age 8+ £3.50 RBS Workshop Tent 10.30am Bookbinder and artist Rachel Hazell’s newest work is inspired by the frozen paper-like expanse of the Antarctic. Come for a session of book crafts about the environment and wildlife in this barren wilderness. In association with her exhibition of the same name at the Scottish Poetry Library. (Also on 21 Aug for adults). Age 8 – 12 £3.50 Crazy Creatures with Gill Arbuthnott Scots Rhymes for Wee Folk Perform a Story with Pam Wardell RBS Imagination Lab 11.00am – 11.30am A second chance to join Craigmillar Books for Babies for an event of Scots songs and rhymes for your wee bairns, including old favourites such as Wee Willie Winkie and Katie Bairdie. Babies & toddlers Free – book in advance (max 4 tickets per person) Conservation Crafts & Fun RBS Workshop Tent 12 noon – 2.30pm Come along and play with artist Linda McCann as part of our day of nature and conservation themed activities! Join in the fun by creating crazy creatures and paper lanterns from recycled materials. Age 4 – 7 Free & drop-in Where the Forest Meets the Sea RBS Workshop Tent 3.00pm Come along and join artist Julie Dawson for an afternoon of stories and crafts. Hear a reading of Jeannie Baker’s Where the Forest Meets the Sea and then create your own environmental pictures and wildlife scenes. Age 4 – 7 £3.50 BSL RBS Children's Theatre 4.30pm Hear all about the crazy creatures of the natural world from animal expert Gill Arbuthnott. Scary, funny or disgusting, these fascinating tales of real creatures are sure to entertain. Age 8 – 12 £3.50 RBS Imagination Lab 4.30pm – 6.00pm Hiss, clap, shout and sing your way through your favourite stories. First hear the story, then join in and add the sound effects, props and costumes which make it really come to life! This event will be particularly focused on nature and the environment. Parents and carers can leave the event and come back at 5.45pm for a special performance, just ask for your free VIP ticket when booking. Age 5 – 8 £3.50 Alan Grant & Cam Kennedy ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm Two of the greatest artists working in graphic novels today. They’ve covered everything from Batman to Star Wars to Judge Dredd and beyond. So what made them change gears and adapt the Scottish epic of RL Stevenson’s Kidnapped? Come and hear a unique discussion about their collaborations old and new, accompanied by a display of their work from Scotland and further afield. Teens & adults £3.50 Rhymes & Reasons with Bookstart Edinburgh RBS Children's Theatre 6.00pm This relaxed and informative event with the experts from Bookstart Edinburgh shows you how best to share rhymes, stories and songs with young children to encourage development. Great for anyone who would like to inspire children to progress. Adults Free – book in advance LATECOMERS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER THE START OF EVENTS AND NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN Story Time: Bea Ferguson RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 45 kids section 07 15/5/07 4:07 PM Page 9 book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk Friday 17 August Bounce & Tickle 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Rhyming Recipes: Fun with Food & Rhyme RBS Imagination Lab 10.00am – 10.30am Engage with your child from an early age through stories and songs. Join Bookstart Edinburgh and Craigmillar Books for Babies in their trademark event of action rhymes and songs for babies and toddlers. (Also on 12, 15, 18, 23 Aug). Babies & under 3s Free – book in advance (max 4 tickets per person) The Big Wild Read RBS Children’s Bookshop 10.30am – 4.30pm Reading books can open your mind, help save the planet and make the world a better place. Join Edinburgh City Libraries Youth Services for activities and crafts on a green theme as part of a nationwide reading campaign. Dr Recommenda Book will be on hand too at various times during the day, dispensing advice and prescriptions for some really big wild reads. Age 5 – 12 Free & drop-in Bounce & Tickle RBS Imagination Lab 11.00am – 11.30am Another chance to join Bookstart Edinburgh and Craigmillar Books for Babies in their trademark event of action rhymes and songs for babies and toddlers. (Also on 12, 15, 18, 23 Aug). Babies & under 3s Free – book in advance (max 4 tickets per person) RBS Workshop Tent 3.30pm Craigmillar Books for Babies are back with their second event of easy rhymes and recipes for little ones. Sing foodie songs and then make your own healthy snack to take home. For pairs of one adult and one child to play and learn together. Age 2 – 5 Free – book in advance (tickets are sold in pairs – for one adult and one child. Max 2 pairs of tickets per person) Graphic Novels: Literature or Pulp Fiction? RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm Authors Ian Rankin and Denise Mina write for the comic Hellblazer, following the infamous John Constantine. World famous graphic novelist Alan Grant has recently adapted RL Stevenson’s Kidnapped and Jekyll and Hyde into comic form. Graphic novels are a huge industry with millions of readers, so why aren’t they taken as seriously as novels without illustration? Are they as valuable as books? Join these world-class authors in a lively discussion. Teens & adults £3.50 On the Run with Amnesty International RBS Imagination Lab 4.30pm – 6.00pm If it suddenly wasn’t safe for your family to live at home, what would you do? Where would you go? Join Amnesty International for a daring adventure where you choose what to do and how to survive, encouraging empathy with people forced to leave their homes to become refugees and asylum seekers. Age 8 – 12 £3.50 Cam Kennedy Masterclass RBS Children’s Theatre 7.30pm – 9.00pm This special event with one of the most recognised and prolific artists in graphic novels is an Edinburgh exclusive. Meet Cam Kennedy, who has drawn everyone from Darth Vader to Batman to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, as he sketches and talks about his work. A fascinating glimpse into the artist’s world. Teens & adults £3.50 Rhyming Recipes: Fun with Food & Rhyme BSL RBS Workshop Tent 2.00pm Craigmillar Books for Babies are back with an all new event of easy rhymes and recipes for little ones. Sing foodie songs and then make your own healthy snack to take home. For pairs of one adult and one child to play and learn together. Age 2 – 5 Free – book in advance (tickets are sold in pairs – for one adult and one child. Max 2 pairs of tickets per person) LATECOMERS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER THE START OF EVENTS AND NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN Story Time: Claire McNicol RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event 46 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 kids section 07 15/5/07 4:08 PM Page 10 book now Saturday 18 August Tiddler with Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler RBS Main Theatre 10.00am The team that brought you The Gruffalo are back to launch their brand new book, Tiddler. Come and be the first to hear about the little fish who tells the biggest tales. Guaranteed show-stoppers, these festival favourites put on events everyone can enjoy! Age 5 – 8 £3.50 Bounce & Tickle RBS Imagination Lab 10.00am – 10.30am Engage with your child from an early age through stories and songs. Join Bookstart Edinburgh and Craigmillar Books for Babies in their trademark event of action rhymes and songs for babies and toddlers. (Also on 12, 15, 17, 23 Aug). Babies & under 3s Free – book in advance (max 4 tickets per person) Reading Together with Nick Butterworth ScottishPower Studio Theatre 10.30am Author Nick Butterworth is committed to promoting the value of reading together. Learn how to bring characters alive by reading aloud with your young ones. Get some helpful tips and learn more about the importance of sharing stories from a master storyteller in this exclusive event. In association with Scottish Learning Partnership Adults £3.50 Bounce & Tickle RBS Imagination Lab 11.00am – 11.30am Another chance to join Bookstart Edinburgh and Craigmillar Books for Babies in their trademark event of action rhymes and songs for babies and toddlers. (Also on 12, 15, 17, 23 Aug). Babies & under 3s Free – book in advance (max 4 tickets per person) Gargling with Jelly & Juggling with Gerbils! RBS Children’s Theatre 11.30am See the Invisible Man’s invisible dog or turn the family unit into jelly! Brian Patten brings his infamous collection of hilarious, lyrical and outrageous poems to life in an extravaganza of verse and worse! Meet the author of children’s cult classics Gargling with Jelly, Thawing Frozen Frogs and Juggling with Gerbils in an event which will have everyone rolling in the aisles. Familes & age 7 – 11 £3.50 Hamish the Highland Cow Makes a Mess with Natalie Russell RBS Workshop Tent 12 noon Hamish is a real mess sometimes. Pretend Hamish the Highland Cow is coming to stay at your house, as in Home Sweet Hamish. Can you imagine the mess he would make? Using collage, help author Natalie Russell create images of the kind of chaos Hamish might make and let your imagination run wild! Age 4 – 7 £3.50 Nick Butterworth at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Mermaid SOS with Gillian Shields RBS Imagination Lab 1.30pm Join the Mermaid Sisters of the Sea on their quest to save Coral Kingdom. Hear all about their magical underwater world and help thwart the menacing Mantora. Dress up as a merperson to make a splash, and learn the mermaid pledge to help all sea creatures great and small. An ocean of fun for everyone! Age 6 – 8 £3.50 William Nicholson’s Noble Warriors ScottishPower Studio Theatre 2.00pm The final chapter of the captivating Noble Warriors Trilogy comes to a close today with Noman. The Nomana are without a centre. What will become of our noble warriors and what lies in store for William Nicholson, one of today’s most captivating authors? He may even tell you about Sony’s film plans for Seeker as a special treat! Age 11+ £3.50 The Witness with James Jauncey RBS Children’s Theatre 3.00pm When John MacNeil is the only witness to an atrocious slaughter in the Highlands he has nowhere to run. Scotland’s nationalisation and land redistribution has caused a violent uprising, and he’s on his own, hiding from a government that wants him quiet – wants him dead. This stunning teen debut is a breathless journey through the rugged terrain of Scotland in a terrifying and not too distant future. Teens £3.50 Pippi Longstocking’s Birthday Party RBS Workshop Tent 3.30pm Join everyone’s favourite wild girl as we celebrate her birthday! Hear Pippi read from her adventures (with brand new beautiful illustrations by Lauren Child) then create your own zany long stockings for Pippi to wear. Age 7 – 11 £3.50 Writing on Screen THE REPUBLIC EVENT RBS Children’s Theatre 5.00pm As both screenwriters and novelists, Academy Award nominee William Nicholson (Gladiator, Shadowlands) and Charlie Fletcher (Taggart, Afterlife) know the worlds of publishing and Hollywood. What makes a script work and how is it different from a book? What’s the difference in the writing process? Both writers are currently adapting their own novels into films – what will this mean for the stories? A fascinating look into the artists’ minds. Teens & adults £3.50 BSL THE SCOTTISHPOWER EVENT RBS Main Theatre 1.30pm One of the greatest storytellers around, Nick Butterworth’s events are a sheer delight for families. Come along and hear all about the adventures of Percy the Park Keeper and Tiger the kitten and the rest of your favourite characters. Age 4 – 6 £3.50 Mad Mr Gum with Andy Stanton RBS Children’s Theatre 1.30pm Andy Stanton has been described as a comic genius and a beardy turnip-head (!) so come prepared to be amused and confused as he talks about his books and a load of other hilarious and random gobbledegook. Mr Gum is the villain in his whimsical, beastly, nonsensical books which are reminiscent of Roald Dahl and Edward Lear, and feature outrageously funny characters. Age 8+ £3.50 LATECOMERS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER THE START OF EVENTS AND NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN Story Time: Ken Shapley RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 47 kids section 07 15/5/07 4:13 PM Page 11 book now Sunday 19 August From Tiddler to T-Rex with Julia Donaldson Dinosaurs in Space & Time-Travelling Cows with Steve Cole RBS Children’s Theatre 10.00am Come and hear all about Astrosaurs’ Captain Teggs Stegosaur, space pilot and adventurer, and his daring exploits! Get tips on how to tell your own amazing tales with Steve’s interactive ‘instant story’ session, and as a special treat take a look at his brand new CIA (Cows In Action) adventure series where time-travelling cows attempt to save history from the evil robotic ter-moo-nators! Age 7 – 9 £3.50 The End of Lemony Snicket? ScottishPower Studio Theatre 10.30am Think you know all about the Baudelaire orphans? Count Olaf has arrived to test your knowledge of everything Lemony Snicket. Audience members can volunteer for this interactive trivia game show, but don’t worry, the activities and games will be just as fun if you’ve never even read a page. Come if you dare, though the results may be truly unfortunate! Age 8 – 12 £3.50 Scoular Anderson’s Spacepirate Adventures RBS Workshop Tent 10.30am Picture book, comic book, puzzle and game, this event is for those with an adventurous spirit. Come on a hunt for treasure and weave your way through this zany maze of activities with the space pirate crew. Age 7 – 10 £3.50 Eddie Dickens is Back! with Philip Ardagh RBS Children’s Theatre 11.30am The wildly ridiculous plights of Eddie Dickens have been read the world over. Author Philip Ardagh (almost as famous for his impressive beard as for his incredible stories) will leap about energetically in this insanely entertaining and rambunctious event. Age 8+ £3.50 Ross Collins Hunts the Elephantom RBS Workshop Tent 12 noon Ross Collins is one of the great delights of Scotland – his sketching and storytelling are always a treat. In his Greenaway Medal shortlisted book The Elephantom, a little girl is plagued by a phantom elephant and no one will believe her! This is destined to be one of the silliest, most fun events of the weekend – don’t miss it! Age 4 – 7 £3.50 See page 58 / 59 for booking details RBS Imagination Lab 1.30pm Sarah Dyer is an expert on both princesses and monsters. Clementine becomes a bossy princess in Princess for a Day, while the Five Little Fiends cause havoc when they try to steal the earth’s elements, including the sun! Come dressed as a princess or a monster, hear the stories being read then play some games and go home with a special treat! Age 4 – 6 £3.50 Luuurve is a Many Trousered Thing... with Louise Rennison ScottishPower Studio Theatre 2.00pm Do the Disco Inferno dance, Louise Rennison is back! Fabbity-fab Georgia Nicholson confesses to more acts of maturosity, revealing her encounters with the cosmic horn and displaying absolutely no loonlike behaviour at all! So come along, or don’t, and waste away on the rack of disappointmentosity. Teens £3.50 My Strange Pencil Case Crafts RBS Workshop Tent 2.00pm Come and create your own magical monster using only the materials found inside a pencil case! World renowned artist, Sophie Benini Pietromarchi encourages children to explore a wide variety of storytelling and illustrating techniques in this highly engaging workshop. Age 8+ £3.50 Mission: Spies & Secret Agents RBS Children’s Theatre 3.00pm Why do we love all things espionage? Joe Craig, author of the genetically engineered boy-assassin Jimmy Coates, and Carol Hedges, author of the smashing new sassy Spy Girl series, look at secrets, codes and adventures in this exclusive on what makes spies tick. Plus discover how to write your own twisting, turning adventures! Age 9 – 12 £3.50 Momotaro the Peach Boy RBS Workshop Tent 3.30pm – 5.30pm Kamishibai is a traditional form of Asian storytelling which uses giant illustrated cards. Come and hear the story of Momotaro and make your own manga-style illustrations to accompany it. Then listen to the story being retold using your artwork and see it really come to life! Join storytellers Mio Shapley, Fergus McNicol and artist Juliana Capes for this highly creative and original workshop. Age 6 – 9 £3.50 Harry Horse’s Ogopogo in Picture & Song RBS Imagination Lab 4.30pm Harry Horse’s classic The Ogopogo is brought to life through music and drawing in an event for the whole family with Dick Lee. Originally inspired by his improvised collaborations with Harry Horse, Dick brings a new vitality to the story using a whole host of instruments. Come and hear the singing sea monster for yourself and join in as part of the percussion section! (Also on 13 Aug). All ages £3.50 BSL RBS Children’s Theatre 1.30pm Famous for the adventures of Cat Royal, author Julia Golding introduces a pair of brand new escapades. Cat sets sail for America in Cat O’ Nine Tails, while Ringmaster whisks you off to the depths of Nairobi, to a world of smuggling, corruption and espionage. Julia’s events delight everyone with a thirst for adventure. Age 8 – 12 £3.50 Story Time: Senga Munro RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event 48 0845 373 5888 Princesses & Monsters with Sarah Dyer RBS Main Theatre 10.00am Always a crowd-pleaser, Julia Donaldson returns with her two latest books: Tiddler, the little fish with the big mouth, and Tyrannosaurus Drip, a baby dinosaur with a heart of gold. With songs, stories and a whole host of props, she’s an entertainer like no other. Come dressed as your favourite character and join in the fun! Age 5 – 7 £3.50 Julia Golding Sets Sail at www.edbookfest.co.uk E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 LATECOMERS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER THE START OF EVENTS AND NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN kids section 07 15/5/07 4:18 PM Page 12 book now Monday 20 August at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details The Wizard’s Secrets Revealed RBS Children’s Theatre 4.30pm Discover the spellbinding secrets and hidden magic of everyday wizardry with Herbie Brennan, the master of the fantastic. Peppered with first hand accounts and case studies of practical magic, Herbie’s event takes you through a step-by-step guide to help you create your own wand-wielding wonders. Come and be amazed. Age 8 – 12 £3.50 Adèle Geras & Julia Golding RBS Children’s Theatre 6.00pm Whether it’s Ancient Greece, Revolutionary Paris or nineteenth century London, Adèle Geras and Julia Golding know their history. And they both readily admit their knowledge comes from careful research; using exciting details to bring their historical fiction to life. How do you make something old and dead sound interesting? Two masters of compelling stories from the past weave a spell and reveal all. Age 8 – 12 £3.50 Roar, Bull, Roar with Andrew Fusek Peters & Polly Peters RBS Workshop Tent 10.30am This multi-talented duo bring you stories, songs and poetry, including their brand new mystery adventure. When Jan and Marie move to a different country, they’re dropped into a mysterious new place riddled with old secrets and dangerous legends. Come on this breathtaking ride and join in the fun! Age 7 – 12 £3.50 Great Big Enormous Crocodile RBS Workshop Tent 12 noon Snip and Snap, the world’s friendliest crocs, are back and ready to share stories, songs and rhymes about all of their favourite animal friends. Come and join the jungle jamboree with Edinburgh City Libraries Youth Services. Rip-roaring stories, animal antics and crazy crafts – snap up your free ticket now. Age 5 – 8 Free – book in advance Eric Maddern RBS Workshop Tent 1.30pm Storyteller by trade, Eric Maddern is back with his fantastic new rendition of Nail Soup. You’ll be enthralled by this age-old legend and get the chance to add your own special ingredients to the pot too! With songs, stories and some wild musical instruments, this is a delightful treat. Age 4 – 6 £3.50 LATECOMERS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER THE START OF EVENTS AND NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN Story Time: Marie Louise Cochrane RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 49 kids section 07 15/5/07 4:21 PM Page 13 book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Tuesday 21 August Wednesday 22 August Make a Bookmark Perky Little Penguins with Guy Parker-Rees RBS Workshop Tent 11.00am – 3.00pm Drop in and design your own bookmark with artist Linda McCann. Draw your favourite characters or create something entirely new for your very own magical bookmark. You could record some of your exciting Book Festival adventures as a souvenir! Age 4 – 7 Free & drop-in Silly Jack RBS Workshop Tent 4.00pm Author and illustrator Holly Surplice reads her book Silly Jack and then, with help from Edinburgh College of Art’s illustration students, lets you create your own farmyard characters in a fun drawing and colouring workshop. Age 4 – 6 £3.50 The Tiara Club’s Princess Party! BSL RBS Imagination Lab 4.30pm Could you attend the Princess Academy? Join author Vivian French and all the Tiara Club princesses for the perfect princess party. Dress up in your finest frock and come and play princess games, make tiaras and learn how to become the perfect princess. Age 5 – 8 £3.50 RBS Imagination Lab 1.30pm Splish, splash and splosh with the lovable penguins! When a baby seal is lost and alone, the penguins know just how to make him laugh. The silly rhymes and action words in this latest book from one of our most endearing and recognisable illustrators will delight youngsters. Age 4 – 6 £3.50 Katie Morag and the Dancing Class with Mairi Hedderwick BSL THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR SCOTLAND EVENT RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm The Katie Morag books have delighted generations with their Hebridean charms and beautiful watercolour images of island life. Come and hear about Katie’s newest adventure on the idyllic Island of Struay. The two grandmas have decided that Katie needs ballet lessons but she would much rather muck about in her big black wellies! Will they ever come to a compromise? Age 5 – 7 £3.50 How to Twist a Dragon’s Tale with Cressida Cowell ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is a Viking who is always in trouble, whether he’s searching for an antidote to the deadly Vorpentitis poison or trying to throw off the mad tribe from Hysteria. You’ll hear all about his dragon-filled, often hilarious adventures in the Barbaric Archipelago along with a few of his latest exploits. Age 8 – 12 £3.50 Big Brother is Watching RBS Children’s Theatre 4.30pm In an age of terrorism and government surveillance, where are our freedoms? Hard-hitting teen authors Sherry Ashworth, Graham Marks and Matt Whyman take a look at freedom of speech and civil liberties, focusing on teens, in a modern world not unlike Nineteen Eighty-Four. A fascinating debate in which everyone should take part. In association with Amnesty International Teens £3.50 Writing for Teens with Tim Bowler, James Jauncey & Nicola Morgan RBS Children's Theatre 5.00pm Teenager. What does the word imply? How and why are teenagers seen to be different from everyone else? And what does that mean for them as readers? Three fantastic authors come together to discuss writing for teens. How does it differ from writing for adults or young children? How can you reach your audience effectively? A stimulating discussion for aspiring writers and teens. Teens & adults £3.50 The Wide White Page for Adults RBS Workshop Tent 5.30pm Bookbinder and artist Rachel Hazell’s newest work is inspired by the frozen paper-like expanse of the Antarctic. Join her for an intensive workshop to make your own books evoking this barren wilderness in form and content. In association with her exhibition of the same name at the Scottish Poetry Library. (Also on 16 Aug for children). Adults £10.00 £8.00 Diary of a Chav with Grace Dent RBS Imagination Lab 4.30pm Clever, sharp and scathing, this isn’t your average glittery girly diary. Shiraz only started writing it so she could later exploit it for her future bestselling biography anyway. Her honest wry voice is a refreshing treat that everyone can relate to and author Grace Dent is as fantastically clever as her heroine (and author of the Big Brother blog to boot). Teens £3.50 The Journey to Excellence RBS Children’s Theatre 6.00pm Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools Frank Crawford is responsible for secondary and special school inspections across Scotland. HMIE produced an aspirational resource about how schools can go from good to great called The Journey to Excellence. Frank will describe its potential in an interactive event on inclusion and the development of quality frameworks to improve school effectiveness for every child. Teachers & adults £5.00 LATECOMERS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER THE START OF EVENTS AND NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN Story Time: Eric Maddern Story Time: Eric Brennan RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event 50 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 kids section 07 15/5/07 4:24 PM Page 14 book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Thursday 23 August Friday 24 August Perky Penguins & Dancing Giraffes Storysticks RBS Workshop Tent 1.30pm Amazing illustrator Guy Parker-Rees knows how to make stories really come to life using fantastic pictures. Join him for a day of storytelling, crafts and fun! Age 4 – 6 £3.50 Bounce & Tickle RBS Imagination Lab 4.30pm – 5.00pm Engage with your child from an early age through stories and songs. Join Bookstart Edinburgh and Craigmillar Books for Babies in their trademark event of action rhymes and songs for babies and toddlers. (Also on 12, 15, 17, 18 Aug). Babies & under 3s Free – book in advance (max 4 tickets per person) Barnaby Grimes with Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm From the pens and imaginations of the team that brought you The Edge Chronicles and Far-Flung Adventures, comes Barnaby Grimes! A daring new hero, he’s a tick-tock lad who runs errands for quick cash by climbing rooftops, clambering up drainpipes, and leaping tall chimneys. But when there’s a wild wolf-creature running rampant in the city it’s up to Barnaby to save the day in an adventure full of thrills, chills and derring-do. Age 8 – 12 £3.50 Comic Books & Graphic Novels with Tom Becker, John Fardell & Mal Peet RBS Children’s Theatre 4.30pm Have you ever been influenced by something you’ve read or a film you’ve seen? Blockbuster authors Mal Peet and Tom Becker both love graphic novels and comics. As well as being a novelist, John Fardell also draws comics and cartoons. Does their love of comics shape their novel writing at all? How do comics differ from books? Come and discuss the fantastic world of comics with some of their most famous fans. Teens £3.50 Jennifer Donnelly BSL ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm Carnegie winner Jennifer Donnelly is a true delight. Her cross-over novel A Gathering Light won her several awards, instant acclaim and a devoted readership the world over. But what now? Is the pressure on to write another instant classic? Come for this rare treat to hear one of the modern masters of heartfelt prose for teens and adults alike. Teens & adults £3.50 Masterclass with Anthony Browne RBS Workshop Tent 5.00pm – 7.00pm Winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration (twice), the Kurt Maschler Award (three times), and the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his contribution to children’s literature, Anthony Browne is a world-class artist. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet a true master of illustration and storytelling. Adults £10.00 £8.00 Bounce & Tickle RBS Imagination Lab 5.30pm – 6.00pm Another chance to join Bookstart Edinburgh and Craigmillar Books for Babies in their trademark event of action rhymes and songs for babies and toddlers. (Also on 12, 15, 17, 18 Aug). Babies & under 3s Free – book in advance (max 4 tickets per person) Formative Assessment in the Classroom RBS Children’s Theatre 6.00pm Professor Dylan Williams of King’s College London is a leading expert and champion of Formative Assessment, which helps children reach their goals without teaching to tests. A commanding and entertaining speaker, he is passionate about raising standards through helping pupils become better learners without continually measuring their progress. Teachers & adults £5.00 Story Time: Ruth Kirkpatrick RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event RBS Workshop Tent 2.00pm Storyteller Ruth Kirkpatrick brings us the art of putting stories on to sticks! A workshop of stories and crafts where you can hear fabulous tales, then make your own storystick to take home. Age 5 – 8 £3.50 Anthony Horowitz RBS Main Theatre 4.30pm Your chance to meet the master of suspense! From Alex Rider to the Diamond Brothers, and now the popular Power of Five series, there’s no other author quite like him. Come to hear an excerpt from his latest thrilling title and get ready to ask your best questions. Age 10+ £3.50 Journey to Africa with Lauren St John RBS Children’s Theatre 4.30pm Adult author Lauren St John evokes the power and beauty of her native Africa in her stunning children’s debut The White Giraffe and her latest, Dolphin Song. But the exotic textures and flavours of the African wild are only the backdrop; her poignant stories are also full of mystery and humanity and will resonate with any adventurous young imagination. Age 10+ £3.50 Football’s Hot Shots RBS Imagination Lab 4.30pm After last year’s show Next Goal’s The Winner!, Mac-A-Story aka Fergus McNicol and Ron Fairweather are back with a fireball of football fun! New stories, songs and raps a-plenty! The team play for Davie’s soul in a winner-takes-all encounter with the Devil’s Eleven. Travel back in time with the Old Time Football Chaps from 1892 and prepare to blast off into the future with the Intergalactic Football Playing Stars. Great fun for football fans and their families. Age 7 – 11 £3.50 Celebrating the Carnegie with Theresa Breslin, Jennifer Donnelly & Mal Peet THE ALCS EVENT ScottishPower Studio Theatre 5.00pm Continuing our celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Carnegie Medal, the illustrious honour of children’s literature, this panel of recent winners is chaired by Nicolette Jones. This unique group of writers come together to discuss children’s literature in all its glory – the books, the award and their favourites. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime event for anyone aged nine to ninety! Teens, adults & 10+ £3.50 Football Frenzy! Calling All Reporters! RBS Imagination Lab 6.00pm Love football? Dan Freedman does! As a sports journalist, it’s Dan’s job to write about football matches. Meet the man who went to the World Cup with the England Team and find out how great sports journalism is done. There will even be a competition for aspiring reporters to win a set of football books! Age 6 – 9 £3.50 Celebrating the Greenaway with Anthony Browne, Emily Gravett & Chris Riddell RBS Children’s Theatre 6.30pm The Kate Greenaway Medal celebrates the best in illustration. This stellar line-up of past winners, all of whom have strong individual artistic styles, celebrate the 50th anniversary of this award in an exclusive look at the art of our favourite books. A fascinating peek into illustrated books, chaired by Liz George. Families & adults £3.50 Story Time: Donnie Henderson-Shedlarz RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 51 kids section 07 15/5/07 4:25 PM Page 15 book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk Saturday 25 August 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Horrid Henry with Francesca Simon BSL RBS Main Theatre 10.00am Join Francesca Simon on a whirlwind tour of the Horrid Henry books. Discover how the stories jump from her head into your hands with lots of laughs and interaction. A guaranteed hour of fun with a preview of Henry’s newest adventure too! Age 6 – 9 £3.50 Emily Gravett’s Animal Menagerie RBS Children’s Theatre 10.00am No matter what your age, you’ll enjoy one of the freshest talents in picture books. Whether it’s Wolves, Monkey and Me or Little Mouse, Emily Gravett’s quirky animal books are endearing from cover to cover. Come and hear how she thinks up her stories and see some of her original artwork in this exciting event. Families & 5+ £3.50 Kelly McKain’s Fantastic Fairy Party! RBS Imagination Lab 10.00am Dress up as your favourite fairy to attend this feisty, fashionable fairy party with Kelly McKain. With storytelling, fashion design for the modern-day fairy, a fairy personality quiz, fairy games and lots of glitter and sparkles, this is a festival of fairy fun! Age 6 – 9 £3.50 Writing for Children vs Adults RBS Children’s Theatre 1.30pm Authors Joanne Harris, Tim Lott and Lauren St John have received great acclaim as adult novelists. So what’s made them turn their pens to young adult books? What’s the difference between writing for teens and adults? How do you approach these different readers and how does it affect your writing? A must-see for all fans, budding authors and curious readers. Teens & adults £3.50 Goodnight, Baby Bat with Debi Gliori RBS Imagination Lab 1.30pm One of our festival favourites, Debi Gliori is back with her fantastic new tale for wee ones. Be the first to hear all about the bedtime adventures of Baby Bat. What should Mummy Bat do? Baby Bat is full of beans and will not go to bed. An interactive event of rhyming fun for your little ones. Age 3 – 5 £3.50 Vampirates with Justin Somper BSL ScottishPower Studio Theatre 2.00pm A true star and born entertainer, Justin Somper provides an hour of entertainment with stories of his swashbuckling, bloodsucking collection of vampirate misfits. Don’t miss out on the adventure! Age 10+ £3.50 Vivian French & Debi Gliori Ottoline and the Yellow Cat with Chris Riddell Gilbert in Deep Grizzly Tales of Nasty Little Beasts ScottishPower Studio Theatre 10.30am Sure authors write books, but they read them sometimes too! Vivian French loves Debi’s Goodnight, Baby Bat and Debi Gliori adores Vivian’s exciting new The Robe of Skulls. Is it a coincidence that they both feature talking bats? Come and hear two of Scotland’s most entertaining children’s authors talk about their great love of books. Age 7 – 12 £3.50 RBS Workshop Tent 10.30am Gilbert the Great is back and he claims that great white sharks aren’t afraid of anything, but deep down at the bottom of the ocean you never know what you may find… Author Jane Clarke and illustrator Charles Fuge take you on a delightful underwater expedition of sea-related reading and crafts. Age 5 – 7 £3.50 Chris Ryan: Code Red RBS Children’s Theatre 11.30am Chris Ryan was an SAS agent and sniper. Now he writes breathlessly thrilling adventures using his amazing first-hand knowledge of specialised training. This highimpact interactive event focuses on the survival skills needed by his books’ heroes in dangerous situations. This event is not for under tens due to its graphic nature. Teens £3.50 RBS Children’s Theatre 3.00pm Award-winning author and illustrator Chris Riddell whisks you away on a fantastic adventure with his newest creation, Ottoline. While her parents travel the world, Ottoline collects odd shoes, jumps in puddles and solves the occasional perplexing mystery involving lots of disguises. Superb illustrations and tales of eccentric escapades unite for an animated hour of entertainment. Age 7+ £3.50 RBS Imagination Lab 4.30pm Grizzly Tales are on the telly, but they’ve never before been seen on the page! Jamie Rix, creator of the series and author of the new Grizzly Tales books, tells you about the secrets and horrors of Hothell Darkness. Full of creepy crawlies and batboys – if you’re sent down there, be warned, you may never return! Age 7 – 9 £3.50 Runemarks with Joanne Harris RBS Children’s Theatre 4.30pm Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, has written a spellbinding adventure for young adults. Maddy is born with a runemark on her hand which is a sign of bad luck, an ill omen. But when Maddy descends into another time and place where the ancient gods are alive and nothing is as it seems, the birthmark is the least of her worries. An unforgettable ride, come be the first to hear all about Runemarks. Age 10+ £3.50 The Princess Poppy Party! Writing & Illustrating Picture Books RBS Workshop Tent 12 noon Come and meet Princess Poppy and all her friends from Honeypot Hill for stories, activities and a princess party, because every girl can be a princess! Author Janey Louise Jones will guide you through the event, just be sure to dress up as your favourite princess. Age 3 – 6 £3.50 RBS Workshop Tent 5.00pm – 6.30pm Jonathan Gibbs, Head of Illustration at Edinburgh College of Art, and Catherine Rayner, ECA graduate and award-winning author of Augustus and his Smile, give tips on how to bring a children's character to life through words and pictures. Hear a special discussion on the process of creating stories, designing characters and getting your own work down on the page. Adults £10.00 £8.00 Kidnapped: When Kilts Were Banned Night of the Living Horror RBS Main Theatre 1.30pm All it takes is two men and a trunk full of props and we’re off on a rollicking adventure! This hilarious, captivating theatrical adaptation of RL Stevenson’s Kidnapped (originally commissioned for the One Book – One Edinburgh campaign) is a joy for the whole family. Daring escapes, Highland battles, and the story of true friendship, this Book Festival exclusive is a real treat! Families & 7+ £3.50 RBS Children’s Theatre 6.00pm Gothic tales have delighted generations; whether it’s Dracula or Frankenstein, werewolves or witches, there is something fascinating about these dark, forbidding creatures. Hear three modern masters of the genre, Tom Becker, Cliff McNish and Marcus Sedgwick discuss gothic fiction and all its wonderful compelling surprises. Teens & 10+ £3.50 LATECOMERS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER THE START OF EVENTS AND NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN Story Time: Liz Wilson RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event 52 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 kids section 07 15/5/07 4:27 PM Page 16 book now at www.edbookfest.co.uk Sunday 26 August Mustard, Custard, Grumble Belly & Gravy with Michael Rosen THE BAILLIE GIFFORD EVENT RBS Main Theatre 10.00am New Children’s Laureate and master entertainer Michael Rosen (most famous for We’re Going on a Bear Hunt) brings us his delightful collection of silly, zany poetry in an event for the whole family. His irreverent style and infectious enthusiasm will have everyone wanting to rhyme along! Families & 7+ £3.50 Carol Ann Duffy RBS Children’s Theatre 10.00am Carol Ann Duffy’s readings are as infectious as they are enchanting. This spellbinding event will take you to far-off worlds and right back to your own back garden, with fairy tales, poems and accompanying music from John Sampson, this is a sheer delight for young and old alike. Families & 8+ £3.50 Rainbow Magic RBS Imagination Lab 10.00am Calling all Rainbow Fairy fans! Join the Petal Fairies and all their friends for their greatest adventure yet. Dress as your favourite fairy and come and join in the fun with games, activities and plenty of fairy dust! Age 5 – 8 £3.50 Locating Leonardo with Theresa Breslin ScottishPower Studio Theatre 10.30am Carnegie winner Theresa Breslin has been steeped in intrigue and betrayal for The Medici Seal. This fascinating event about the life and times of Leonardo da Vinci, which stems from her extensive research, will captivate you. An enthralling journey with plenty of visual aids. Teens & adults £3.50 Pirate Things to Make & Do RBS Workshop Tent 10.30am Ahoy me hearties! Join our crew of swashbuckling scallywags for all manner of pirate activities and fun. This craft workshop is a treasure trove for all your little pirates. Wear your best pirate garb and cast your sails towards Charlotte Square Gardens. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! Age 4 – 7 £3.50 Fairy Fun with Gwyneth Rees RBS Children’s Theatre 11.30pm Sprinkle a little fairy dust and enter the world of Gwyneth Rees. She knows everything about fairies from tooth fairies to dream fairies to wicked sprites. Come on an enchanted adventure where wishes can come true and there are surprises around every corner. Age 7 – 10 £3.50 Augustus & his Smile with Catherine Rayner RBS Workshop Tent 12 noon Hear how Augustus hunts high and low for his missing smile and then join in by drawing your own tiger and learning some important tiger facts. One of the most stunning picture books in years, Augustus and his Smile is a beautiful story for young ones which was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration. Age 4 – 7 £3.50 Horrible Histories with Martin Brown RBS Main Theatre 1.30pm The Horrible Histories would be nothing without their illustrations and cartoons. Be they fun, disgusting, or both at once they are always entertaining and an important part of the story. Illustrator Martin Brown knows just how to get everyone shouting and sketching so come along and have a bit of horrible history drawn right before your eyes! Age 7 – 12 £3.50 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details Highwaymen & Cutpurses RBS Children’s Theatre 1.30pm Linda Buckley-Archer, Nicola Morgan and Eleanor Updale know all about the gritty, nasty secrets of life in the past which they incorporate into their compelling stories. It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it. Hear the dark secrets, gruesome scandals and seedier pieces of history that really bring their adventures to life. Teens & 10+ £3.50 Musical Madness at Lunchtime RBS Imagination Lab 1.30pm Vibrant virtuosos Dick Lee and Anne Evans are back for a musical extravaganza the whole family can enjoy. They’ve brought lyrical games, musical puzzles and a whole host of new songs. A free drop-in event sure to leave you tapping your toes! (Also on 11, 15 Aug). All ages Free & drop-in Rewriting the Past ScottishPower Studio Theatre 2.00pm In telling stories about the past, when do you stick to the facts and when do you embellish your story with exotic flourishes (or downright lies)? When is the truth more exciting than fiction? Meet three fantastic writers, Theresa Breslin, Alan Gibbons and Marcus Sedgwick who reveal the way they weave history and myth for the perfect combination in storytelling. Teens £3.50 Fairy Things to Make & Do RBS Workshop Tent 2.00pm Flit away on a magical tour to fairyland and return with your very own fairy surprise. Come along for a wonderful event of fanciful crafts and activities. Dress up as your favourite fairy and create your very own fairy friend to take home. Age 4 – 7 £3.50 Surfing the Solar System with Lucy Hawking RBS Children’s Theatre 3.00pm Professor Stephen Hawking and his daughter Lucy have written a thrilling space adventure together. Join Lucy for a fantastic voyage through the universe and text your toughest science questions to her dad, who will answer them live during the event! Age 8 – 12 £3.50 Michelle Paver RBS Children’s Theatre BSL 4.30pm The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness is a fast-paced adventure series set in prehistoric times. Hear all about the latest thrilling instalment in which Torak must survive alone… as an Outcast. Michelle Paver will have everyone on the edge of their seats with her tales of survival, ancient artefacts and her exciting encounter with a bear! Age 8 – 12 £3.50 Jiggy McCue Party RBS Imagination Lab 4.30pm Jiggy McCue is always getting into scrapes. Either his clothes have disappeared or some other hilarious near-disaster has happened. This time he falls through the school broom cupboard into a weird parallel school which makes him do the ironing! Based on author Michael Lawrence’s real life misadventures, this jigging, jagging party is sure to be a barrel of laughs. Age 8 – 12 £3.50 Apocalyptic Scotland: Julie Bertagna, Catherine Forde & James Jauncey RBS Children’s Theatre 6.00pm Join some of teen fiction’s strongest voices on a journey to a new Scotland. Each has written distinctly different dystopian futures for the nation. In an age of uncertainty, political upheaval and environmental catastrophe, they look to the future to explore who we are and who we may yet become. A truly outstanding collaboration not to be missed. In association with NCH Scotland Teens & adults £3.50 LATECOMERS WILL NOT BE ADMITTED AFTER THE START OF EVENTS AND NO REFUNDS WILL BE GIVEN Story Time: Andy Hunter RBS Imagination Lab 12 noon – 12.45pm and 3.00pm – 3.45pm Free Tickets available from the Box Office on the day of the event E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 53 kids section 07 15/5/07 4:27 PM Page 17 book now Monday 27 August at www.edbookfest.co.uk 0845 373 5888 See page 58 / 59 for booking details The Confidence Handbook with Dr Carol Craig RBS Children’s Theatre 5.00pm Increasingly influencing the type of thinking now required if we are to become a vibrant, confident country, Dr Carol Craig, Chief Executive of the Centre of Confidence and Well-being offers a refreshingly different analysis of what it really means to be Scottish. She discusses her new book The Confidence Handbook, and talks about ways to encourage confident individuals in the classroom. Teachers & adults £5.00 More children’s events available… The RBS Schools Programme is created especially for schools but individuals can book at the special price of £2 from Mon 2 July, if tickets are still available. It includes over 50 author events and creative workshops. For more information call the Box Office on 0845 373 5888 or download the schools brochure from www.edbookfest.co.uk Help us to inspire ideas, change minds, create ambitions and open worlds… The Book Festival has to raise a huge amount of money to transform Charlotte Square Gardens into a celebration of words, thoughts and ideas every summer. You can support the Book Festival in three easy ways… 1 Become one of the Book Festival Friends As a Friend your contribution will help us continue to bring the world’s greatest writers and thinkers to Edinburgh. Three levels of membership offer exclusive benefits to help you get the most out of the Book Festival: Level One £10 (£15 joint membership) Membership card / Advance mailing of the programme before the public launch / Book Festival Newsletter twice a year to keep you up to date with the world’s greatest book festival Level Two £50 (£80 joint membership) All Level One benefits plus: Priority booking before the box office opens to the general public, by telephone for up to 10 events (2 seats per event, or 4 seats for children’s events) Level Three £150 (£250 joint membership) All Level Two benefits plus: Priority booking for unlimited events (2 seats per event, or 4 seats for children’s events) / An invitation to attend the exclusive Director’s Programme Preview reception All priority booking is subject to availability 54 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 a donation 2 Make Making a donation means you can enjoy knowing your money is going straight to where the Book Festival needs it most. Simply add your donation to the total on the Booking Form (page 59). All contributions are most gratefully received. Remember to tick the Gift Aid box if you are a UK taxpayer, so we can receive an extra 28p for every £1 you donate. a book 3 Buy Every penny of profit from our independent book sales operation goes straight back towards the maintenance and development of the festival. Any purchase, no matter how small, is an easy way for you to make a direct contribution to your favourite festival. For a Friends membership form please call our Friends Co-ordinator on 0131 718 5666 or email [email protected] or you can join online at www.edbookfest.co.uk back section 15/5/07 4:31 PM Page 1 Join us in the gardens Admission free – everyone welcome! Bookshops The Bookshop is open daily from 9.30am – 9.30pm. A fantastic selection including festival authors, contemporary fiction, non-fiction and Scottish interest titles. RBS Children’s Bookshop is open daily from 9.30am – 8.30pm. Thousands of books for children and young adults. There is also an Activity and Reading Corner at the rear. Book Signings Authors sign copies of their books after their events. Book signings take place in the London Review of Books Signing Tent, The Bookshop and the RBS Children’s Bookshop. Please check the venue boards outside these venues for the times of when signings take place. Art in the Garden Come along to the Book Festival and experience the work of two artists with a focus on our environment. Alice Betts creates an installation of fabric and mixed media which draws on the spaces and structures at the Book Festival. Trained in glass at Edinburgh College of Art, Alice graduated in 1999 and has been a studio holder at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop since 2002. She now lectures part-time at North Wales School of Art and Design and continues to work in Edinburgh in glass and mixed media installation. Fanny Lam Christie’s work focuses on our relationship with nature, exploring changes in the landscape and related environmental issues. Her monumental bronze sculpture Storm, won the RSA N S MacFarlane Charitable Trust Award in 2006. A graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, Fanny has exhibited at the RSA, at exhibitions of Visual Arts Scotland and the Society of Scottish Artists, and has recently had a solo exhibition entitled Nature Unbound at Eskmills, Musselburgh. Special tours of the artwork on display will take place during the festival – check the website for more details. Tickets are free and can be booked through the Box Office 0845 373 5888 or online at www.edbookfest.co.uk Contemporary seating: relax on state of the art designer seating, provided by Inhouse, in a highly practical outdoor exhibition on the chair. 1548 Forth 2 at the Book Festival Saturdays and Sundays 12 noon – 3.00pm For further information go to www.forth2.com Forth 2’s very own Paula Whitelock will be soaking up the atmosphere every weekend at this year’s Book Festival. With guest interviews from some of the country’s bestselling authors, come along to Charlotte Square Gardens to join in! BBC Radio Scotland at the Book Festival Special recordings of BBC Radio Scotland’s Radio Café hosted by Janice Forsyth, will take place at selected Book Festival events. Book Festival authors also take part in live recordings of the Radio Café at the Famous Spiegeltent in George Square – near Edinburgh University – from Monday 13 to Friday 24 August (excluding weekends) at 1.15pm – 2.00pm. Tickets are free from the Fringe: 0131 226 0000 or www.edfringe.com Eating and Drinking Beetroot Blue Café Bar London Review of Books Signing Tent Daily from 9.30am – late Fairtrade coffee, teas, whisky, wines and beer plus a range of light snacks, sandwiches and fresh salads. Fenton Barns in the City The Bookshop Daily from 9.30am – 9.15pm The café at East Lothian’s Fenton Barns Farm Shop comes to the heart of Edinburgh. Wholesome snacks, tempting home-made pastries, mouth-watering cakes and tarts, as well as Fairtrade organic coffees from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, speciality teas and award-winning soft drinks. Di Rollo of Musselburgh Ice Cream Trike Daily from 11.00am – 6.00pm Locally made ice creams in a lip-smacking variety of flavours. Beetroot Blue Café Bar Highland Park Spiegeltent Daily from 11.30am – 6.00pm Home-made soups, sandwiches, fresh salads and Fairtrade coffee and teas plus great beer, Stella Bella wine and plenty of Highland Park whisky. Also live music most lunchtimes. The Spiegelbar Highland Park Spiegeltent Evenings from 9.00pm A full bar and fabulous free live music every night from Sunday 12 August – pick up a list of who’s playing in the Entrance Tent. E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 55 back section 15/5/07 4:33 PM Page 2 Useful Information for your visit FREE entry to Charlotte Square Gardens. All welcome! We’re open daily from 9.30am until late, from 11 to 27 August 7 10 8 9 11 6 12 5 13 4 14 1 Entrance Tent and Box Office 2 Highland Park Spiegeltent (with bar & café) 3 Toilets and Baby Change Area 4 Bookshop (with café) 5 RBS Children’s Bookshop 6 RBS Workshop Tent 7 RBS Imagination Lab 8 RBS Children’s Theatre 9 Peppers Theatre 10 Party Pavilion 11 The Snug 3 15 2 1 16 12 Writers’ Retreat 13 RBS Main Theatre 14 London Review of Books Signing Tent (with café) 15 ScottishPower Studio Theatre 16 First Aid and Administration Area Facilities for visitors with disabilities If you require any more information or assistance for your visit please get in touch with us and we will do our best to help – 0845 373 5888. • Ramped entrance, fully wheelchair accessible site and free wheelchair hire. Sponsored by Gillespie Macandrew WS • British Sign Language BSL interpreted events listed as Sponsored by Gillespie Macandrew WS • Infrared systems in all theatres • Guide dogs and hearing dogs welcome Artlink’s Arts Access Service offers support to disabled visitors to Edinburgh to attend Book Festival events with a volunteer companion. For further information please contact Artlink on 0131 229 3555 or [email protected] This brochure is available in large print, braille and audio cd. Please call the Book Festival to request a copy on 0131 718 5666 Please note: To ensure the site is safe and litter-free we do not permit leafleting in Charlotte Square Gardens or outside the entrance to the Book Festival. No dogs will be admitted into the gardens except guide dogs and hearing dogs. We employ a roving photographer who takes photographs of events and the gardens during the Book Festival for promotional use. We reserve the right to refuse entry to the gardens. The Edinburgh International Book Festival is sited in Charlotte Square Gardens by kind permission of the Charlotte Square Proprietors. 56 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 back section 15/5/07 10:24 PM Page 3 Your visit to Edinburgh Accommodation, travel & information Scotland’s national tourist board is VisitScotland, call their national booking and information service line: 0845 22 55 121 or visit www.visitscotland.com or email [email protected] Public Transport information For information on all public transport in Edinburgh and the Lothians please call Traveline on 0870 608 2608 or go to www.travelinescotland.com – lines are open from 7am to 10pm seven days a week. Bus and rail information can also be found at www.lothianbuses.co.uk and www.firstscotrail.com Taxis There are plenty of taxi ranks around the city or you can call: City Cabs 0131 228 1211, Central Taxis 0131 229 2468, Computer Cabs 0131 272 8000. COVER & MAP ILLUSTRATION: IAIN MCINTOSH PRINT: PINDAR DESIGN: EMMA QUINN DESIGN 0131 225 3885 PHOTOGRAPHY: PASCAL SAEZ Getting around The Official Edinburgh Festivals Map A useful guide to help you get around all the summer festivals. Available free from the Book Festival Entrance Tent and many other locations around the city. Produced in association with Magners Irish Cider. Edinburgh Art Festival 26 July – 2 September 2007 Tickets & info: www.edinburghartfestival.org Starbucks Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival 27 July – 5 August 2007 Tickets & info: 0131 467 5200 www.edinburghjazzfestival.co.uk Edinburgh Military Tattoo 3 – 25 August 2007 Tickets & info: 08707 555 1188 www.edintattoo.co.uk Edinburgh Festival Fringe Eating and drinking www.list.co.uk/restaurants is The List magazine’s comprehensive guide to bars and eateries in Edinburgh. 5 – 27 August 2007 Tickets & info: 0131 226 0000 www.edfringe.com The Festivals Edinburgh International Festival Edinburgh has a range of summer festivals – most happen simultaneously, giving visitors an unrivalled selection of cultural events and activities to enjoy. See www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk for a comprehensive guide to all the festivals in Edinburgh with links to all individual festival websites. Produced in association with Scotsman.com. Edinburgh Festivals Guide Daily Look out for the free official daily listings magazine containing event listings for all summer festivals. Available free from the Book Festival Entrance Tent and many other venues around the city. Produced in association with The Guardian. 10 August – 2 September 2007 Tickets and info: 0131 473 2000 www.eif.co.uk Edinburgh International Film Festival 15 – 26 August 2007 Tickets and info: 0131 228 4051 (until 12 July); 0131 623 8030 (from 13 July) www.edfilmfest.org.uk The Edinburgh Mela 1 – 2 September 2007 Tickets and info: 0131 339 3583 www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk Who’s Who at the Book Festival Board of Directors Susan Rice (Chair) Jenny Brown Fiona Brownlee Tom Connor Ewan Easton Andrew Franklin Jamie Jauncey Nicky Stonehill Carol Wood Festival Staff Catherine Lockerbie Amanda Barry Catherine Dempsey Sara Grady Kath M Mainland Carolyn Mills Oisín Murphy-Lawless Steve O’Connor Fiona Pearson James Shaw Sarah Stephenson Loïs Wolffe Festival Team 2007 Director Marketing and PR Manager PA to the Director Children & Education Programme Director Administrative Director Marketing Assistant Programme Administrator IT & Systems Administrator Education Officer Booksales & Retail Manager Bookkeeper Sponsorship & Development Manager Joan Birse Maggie Briggs Andrew Coulton Imogen Curtis Lindsay Hetherington Peggy Hughes Calum McGhie Robin Sanders Frances Sutton Rán Thorgeirsdóttir Box Office Manager Admin Assistant Technical Manager Administrator Sponsorship Assistant Marketing & PR Assistant Book Sales Co-ordinator Site Manager Press Manager Accommodation Officer The Edinburgh International Book Festival is a registered charity no: SC010210 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 57 back section 15/5/07 5:07 PM Page 4 Ticket & Booking Information Four easy ways to book tickets Booking for all events opens 19 June 2007 £1 booking fee per transaction unless purchasing tickets in person Online www.edbookfest.co.uk (from 19 June at 9.30am) Phone 0845 373 5888 (all calls charged at the local rate) 19 Jun – 10 Aug: 9.30am – 5.30pm, Mon to Sat 11 Aug – 27 Aug: 9.30am – 8.30pm, daily Post In person Please post booking form opposite to: Box Office, Edinburgh International Book Festival PO Box 23835, EDINBURGH EH2 4WS Tues 19 Jun – Fri 10 Aug Book Festival Box Office at Waterstone’s Booksellers 83 George Street, Edinburgh Opening Times 9.30am – 5.30pm Mon to Sat Payment We accept Visa / Delta / Maestro/Switch / Mastercard. Cheques should be made payable to Edinburgh International Book Festival. Tickets cannot be exchanged or money refunded. However, for sold out events refunds may be issued at our discretion, subject to a £1 handling fee. Concession ticket prices are marked in italics and are available to senior citizens (60+), students, disabled visitors (carer goes free), registered unemployed, under 16s and Young Scot cardholders. Proof of entitlement will be required. Visitors with disabilities See page 56 for details of our facilities. Please ask our Box Office staff for advice or information for your particular needs when booking. Parking There is a multi-storey car park at Castle Terrace and parking spaces along George Street and around Charlotte Square. During August Edinburgh is extremely busy and vacant parking spaces scarce. We would therefore advise you use public transport wherever 58 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 Sat 11 Aug – Mon 27 Aug Book Festival Box Office at the Entrance Tent Charlotte Square Gardens, Edinburgh Opening Times 9.30am – 8.30pm daily possible. If you have to travel into Edinburgh by car, please allow plenty of time to park. See page 57 for public transport information. Latecomers Events start punctually. Please be considerate and arrive in good time. Latecomers disrupt authors and members of the audience, and will not be admitted after the beginning of events. No refunds will be given. PLEASE NOTE We do not recommend booking consecutive events where one event ends at the same time the other starts. Leaving events early can be disruptive to fellow audience members (see Latecomers Policy). Events are one hour long unless otherwise specified. All seating is unreserved. No dogs are admitted into the gardens except guide dogs and hearing dogs. All information is correct at the time of going to print. We reserve the right to change or cancel any event in unforeseen circumstances. Please check our website for event updates www.edbookfest.co.uk back section 15/5/07 4:37 PM Page 5 OFFICE USE Booking Form (please photocopy as required) PLEASE USE BLOCK CAPITALS Title First Name Surname Address Postcode Daytime Phone Evening Phone Mobile Please add me to the Book Festival Mailing List Email Please print clearly Date Time Contact me by email Event Name / Author No. of full price tickets No. of conc price tickets Type of conc Total cost Booking Fee * For every pound you donate, we get an extra 28 pence from OFFICE USE £1 Donation to Edinburgh International Book Festival* the Inland Revenue. So just tick here. It’s that simple. (You must be a UK taxpayer and pay an amount of Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax equal to any tax reclaimed by Edinburgh International Book Festival). G R A N D TOTA L Please post this form with payment to: Box Office, Edinburgh International Book Festival, PO Box 23835, EDINBURGH EH2 4WS Your tickets will be posted to you unless otherwise requested. Please allow 14 days for processing and mailing. Paying by cheque: Please make cheques payable to the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Leave the amount BLANK. Cross the cheque with the words “NOT TO EXCEED” and the total cost of your order in £s and pence. This means that we can still process your order in case of any chosen event being sold out. We will complete the cheque and advise you of the amount when sending out tickets. Paying by credit or debit card: Please debit my (please tick) Mastercard Visa Switch/Maestro OFFICE USE ONLY Delta Card Number / (Switch/Maestro only) CRM Res # Expires on Signature Valid from Issue Number (Switch/Maestro only) Date Order # Proc INIT E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 11 – 27 August 2007 59 back section 15/5/07 4:40 PM Page 6 Index 60 Brown, Martin Browne, Anthony Buckley-Archer, Linda Burgess, Melvin Burnside, John Butcher, Tim Butler, M Christina Butlin, Ron Butterworth, Nick Cahill, Kevin Cameron, Rhona Campbell, Angus Peter Cannadine, David Capes, Julianna Carofiglio, Gianrico Cartwright, Justin Cassidy, Cathy Cassidy, Tina Cercas, Javier Chapman, Linda Chapman, Peter Charlie & Lola Charters, Keith A Chayes, Sarah Chevalier, Tracy Chignac, François Christensen, Lars Saabye Clark, Clare Clarke, Jane Clary, Julian Cleghorn, Patricia Cochrane, Marie Louise Cohen, Nick Cole, Steve Colley, Linda Collin, Matthew Collins, Ross Connelly, Karen Contini, Mary Cowell, Cressida Cox, Michael Crace, Jim Cracknell, Linda Craig, Carol Craig, Joe Craigmillar Books for Babies Crawford, Frank Crawford, Robert Cross, Beth Crossley-Holland, Kevin Crystal, David Cummings, Dolan Dabydeen, David Dahl, K O Dalrymple, William David, Saul Davidar, David Davidsen, Leif Davidson, Craig Davidson, Rosemary Davies, Norman Davies, Stevie Davis, Lindsey Dawkins, Richard Dawson, Julie de Bono, Edward DeGroot, Gerard Del Conte, Anna Delisle, Guy della Sala, Sergio Dent, Grace Dew, Josie Dewan, Brian Dewar, Isla Dhaliwal, Nirpal Singh Dickson Wright, Clarissa Dobbs, Michael Docherty, Paddy Dodds, Ian ^ Adamson, John 12 Adie, Kate 36 Afolabi, Segun 33 Ahmad, Imran 16 Ahmed, Iqbal 16 Al Aswany, Alaa 34 Alderson, Andrew 14 Aldridge, Kitty 27 Allen, Benedict 21 Almond, Brenda 8, 9 Alsamari, Lewis 6 Amirrezvani, Anita 17 Amnesty International 46 Amos, Martyn 35 Anam, Tahmima 17 Anderson, Lin 13 Anderson, Scoular 48 Andrade, Suzanne 35 Andrew, Hugh 22 Araidi, Naim 5 Arbuthnott, Gill 45 Ardagh, Philip 48 Ardrey, Adam 36 Armitage, Simon 27 Armstrong, Campbell 31 Armstrong, Karen 27 Arregi, Rikardo 7 Ashdown, Paddy 4 Asher, Michael 29 Ashworth, Sherry 50 Atkinson, Kate 14 Atwood, Margaret 10, 13 Atxaga, Bernardo 7 August, Oliver 7 Awar Jarrar, Nada 5 Azzopardi, Trezza 14 Baggini, Julian 20, 21, 22 Bailey, Jenna 14 Bakewell, Joan 23, 26, 28 Bandele, Biyi 29 Banks, Iain 11 Banks, Ray 31 Barker, Pat 24 Barry, Nicola 17 Bartlett, Neil 19 Basu, Bani 20 Bate, Jonathan 23 Baverstock, Alison 22, 24 Bayley, Stephen 30 Becker, Tom 51, 52 Bella McNab’s Dance Band 37 Benini Pietromarchi, Sophie 48 Benjamin, Marina 14 Bennett, Alan 4 Bennett, Margaret 43 Bennett, Ronan 36 Bertagna, Julie 53 Bhattacharya, Nabarun 20 Biggam, Simon 24 Billingham, Mark 11 Bissett, Alan 15, 24 Blackburn, Simon 23, 24 Blastland, Michael 23 Blond, Phillip 25 Bloom, Amy 31 Bobbitt, Philip 7 Bookstart Edinburgh 41, 44, 45, 46, 47, 51 Boorman, Neil 26 Bowen, Jeremy 29 Bowler, Tim 50 Boycott, Rosie 5 Boyd, Pattie 29 Bragg, Billy 18 Brennan, Eric 50 Brennan, Herbie 49 Breslin, Theresa 41, 51, 53 Brookmyre, Christopher 25 Brooks, Kevin 40 Brown, Jenny 5, 22 E D I N B U R G H I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O O K F E S T I VA L 53 51 53 41, 42 19, 25 28 41 33 47 30 25 34 35 48 11 10 41 8, 9 17 40 34 40, 41 17, 32 24 15 43 17 25 52 21 14, 16 49 10 48 35 24 48 29 11, 15 50 22 32 18 54 48 41, 44, 45, 46, 47, 51 50 36 40, 43 40, 41 20 25 17 19 4 6 20 18, 19, 21 35 27 8 34 14 20 40, 41, 44, 45 24 20 11 7 23, 37 50 9 35 26 21 37 24 13 41 11 – 27 August 2007 Donaldson, Julia Donnelly, Jennifer Doughty, Louise Douglas, Jonathan Dr Recommenda Book Drinkwater, Carol Duffy, Carol Ann Duhig, Ian Dunant, Sarah Dunford, Caroline Dunn, Angus Durie, Bruce Dyer, Sarah Eagleton, Terry Earnshaw, Steven Edinburgh City Libraries Edwards, Nat Ellis, Hattie Ellmann, Lucy Englander, Nathan Enright, Anne Erdal, Jennie Erozcelik, Seyhan Evans, Anne Evans, John Eyre, Lucy Fairweather, Ron Fannin, Lorraine Fardell, John Farhi, Moris Faulks, Sebastian Feinstein, Elaine Ferguson, Bea Ferguson, Niall Ferguson, Ron Fergusson, James Fergusson, Maggie Fernandes, Edna Fletcher, Charlie Flower Fairies Flusfeder, David Flynn, Leonie Forbes, Anne Ford, Richard Forde, Catherine Forster, Dayo Fraser, Bashabi Frayn, Michael Freedman, Dan Freeman, Fred French, Vivian Freud, Annie Freud, Esther Fry, Michael Fuentes, Eugenio Fuge, Charles Fullerton-Smith, Jill Fusek Peters, Andrew Galbraith, Douglas Galbraith, Gillian Galloway, Janice Gee, Sue Gelber, Harry G George, Liz Geras, Adèle Ghafour, Hamida Gibbons, Alan Gibbs, Jonathan Gibson, Graeme Gibson, William Gifford, Douglas Gifford, Rob Gill, Anton Glaister, Lesley Glass, Rodge Glen, Duncan Glenday, John Gliori, Debi Godwin, Peter 47, 48 51 29, 30 41, 42 46 25 37, 53 26 30, 31 18, 28 13 35 48 8 20 43, 46, 49 22 11 16 35 34 9, 10 5 40, 44, 53 9 20 51 22 51 35 32 18, 19 44, 45 36 26, 27 11 19 13 42, 47 42, 43 7 41 42 22 53 7 21 16 51 36 4, 28, 42, 50, 52 26 27 7 9 52 11 49 5 9 18 14 4 51 49 4 53 52 11 37 37 24 22 8 15, 20 9 4 52 32 Golding, Julia 48, 49 Goodman, Martin 12 Goswami, Joy 20 Gourevitch, Philip Govinden, Niven Gowers, Rebecca 5, 7 21 13 Grant, Alan 45, 46 Gravett, Emily 51, 52 Gravett, Paul 46 Gray, Alex 15 Gray, John 26, 27 Gray, Muriel 11 Grayling, A C 18 Green, Dominic 28 Greenlaw, Lavinia 26 Greer, Germaine 18 Greig, Andrew 8 Griffiths, Niall 30 Grimbert, Philippe 33 Groom, Nick 18 Gunn, Kirsty 19, 24, 25, 26 Guo, Xiaolu 19 Gupta, Rahila 10 Guthrie, Allan 37 Habila, Helon 33 Hadley, Tessa 16 Hage, Rawi Hague, William 5 34 Hahn, Daniel 41 Hall, Steven 15 Hamid, Mohsin 27 Hannah, Sophie Harberd, Nicholas 8 36 Harding, Georgina 27 Harford, Tim 22 Harris, Joanne 34, 52 Harrison, Tony 28 Hart, Josephine 27 Hart-Davis, Adam 32 Hattersley, Roy 24 Hawking, Lucy 53 Hayatleh, Iyad 13 Hazell, Rachel 45, 50 Heap, Sue 41 Hedderwick, Mairi 50 Hedges, Carol 48 Hegarty, Julie 40 Hegley, John 35 Henderson-Shedlarz, Donnie 51 Henderson, J A 42 Hendry, Diana 42, 43 Herdman, John 12 Hewitt, Duncan 24 Himmler, Katrin 8 Hird, Laura 9 Hofman, Ethel G 13 Holden, Anthony 10 Holloway, Richard 12, 19, 26, 36, 37 Holman, Michael 12 Holmes, Rachel 20 Holms, Joyce 35 Hong, Liu 32 Hooper, Meredith 27 Horowitz, Anthony 51 Hossain, Selina 20, 21 Huelle, Pawel 23 Hughes, Gillian 36 Hunter, Andy 53 Hurd, Douglas Husain, Ed Hutchison, Alexander 16 25, 27 9 Hutton, Will 14 Jacobs, Sunny 33 Jacques, Brian 41 James, Clive 14 James, Lawrence 14 back section 15/5/07 Jardine, Quintin Jauncey, James Jeal, Tim Jenkins, Simon Johnston, Paul Joly, Eva Jones, Janey Louise Jones, Martin Jones, Nicolette Jones, Tobias Jordan, Don Juniper, Tony Junor, Beth Junor, Penny Kaplan, Jonathan Karabell, Zachary Karnezis, Panos Kay, Jackie Kearney, Martha Keegan, Claire Kehlmann, Daniel Kelley, Ann Kelman, James Kennedy, A L Kennedy, Cam Kennedy, Hugh Kenny, Marion Kershaw, Ian Khadra, Yasmina Khair, Tabish Khalvati, Mimi Kipnis, Laura Kirino, Natsuo Kirkpatrick, Ruth Klinkenborg, Verlyn Kluger, Jeffrey Kneale, Matthew Knight, Alanna Konstam, Angus Kunzru, Hari Kurkov, Andrey Lacey, Robert Laird, Elizabeth Laird, Nick Lalwani, Nikita Lanchester, John Latham, Carolyne Lawrence, Michael Leader, Zachary LeBor, Adam Lebrecht, Norman Lee, Dick Lee, Hermione Legendre, Thomas Legrain, Philippe Leishman, Marista Leonard, Mark Lessing, Doris Lewycka, Marina Lindqvist, Sven Lingard, Joan Linklater, Magnus Litt, Toby Lochhead, Liz Longley, Michael Lott, Tim Loudon, Mary Loyd, Anthony Luis de Juan, José Lupton, Hugh Lynas, Mark MacBride, Stuart McCall Smith, Alexander McCann, Linda McCartney, Jennifer McDermid, Val McDevitt, Bob MacDonald, Alan MacDonald, Claire Macdonald, Sheena McDowell, Lesley McEwan, Ian Macfarlane, Robert McGinty, Stephen MacGowan, Douglas MacGregor, Sue McGuire, Bill McIlvanney, William 4:42 PM 9 47, 50, 53 28 11 21 10 52 13 51 26 10 13 37 29 36 32 5 5 32 16 31 42 16 15, 23, 33 45, 46 32 44 24 4 32 18 30, 31 4 51 27 12 28 13 6 18, 19 36 14 40 6 25 15 41 53 28, 29 15, 16 8 40, 42, 44, 48, 53 10 11 16, 17 12 4, 5 10 16 11 14 10, 15, 32 19 16 5 30, 52 26 23 9 41 14 37 9, 17, 41 42, 43, 44, 45, 50 15 11 5 40 8 8, 23, 33 15 30 33 24 28 32 14 20 Page 7 McKain, Kelly Mackay, Neil McKean, Charles McKie, Robin McLynn, Frank Macnaughton, Tina McNay, Mark MacNeacail, Aonghas McNicol, Claire McNicol, Fergus McNish, Cliff McVicar, Ewan Macwhirter, Iain McWilliam, Candia Maddern, Eric Magan, Manchán Mailer, Norman Man, John Mangan, Lucy Manzoor, Sarfraz Marks, Graham Marney, Laura Marr, Andrew Martin, Valerie Martine, Roddy Mason, Paul Mason, Richard Massie, Allan Mavity, Roger Max, D T Mengestu, Dinaw Mercurio, Jed Miller, Deborah J Mina, Denise Misra, Maria Moffat, Alistair Moggach, Deborah Monbiot, George Morden, Daniel Morgan, Nicola Morrison, Blake Morrison, Ewan Morton, Oliver Mosse, Greg Mosse, Kate Muir, Frank Mullan, John Munnery, Simon Munro, Alice Munro, Senga Muqit, Piya D Murray, Craig Murray, John Myint-U, Thant Nagra, Daljit Naidoo, Beverley Nair, Anita Naoot, Fatima Naughtie, James Neat, Timothy Nelson, Tom Nemat, Marina Nesbø, Jo Nicholson, Jon Nicholson, William Noort, Saskia Northcott, Michael Oates, Joyce Carol O'Connor, Joseph O'Farrell, Maggie O'Hagan, Andrew Okri, Ben Ondaatje, Michael Oppenheimer, Stephen Or, Amir Oram, Peter O'Rourke, Donny Osborne, Brian D Ostler, Nicholas Padel, Ruth Page, Jeremy Paisley, Janet Pao, Basil Parke, Simon Parker-Rees, Guy Patchett, Ann Patel, Raj Paterson, Anna 52 14 11 22, 23 32 41 13 34 46 42, 48, 51 52 40 10, 23, 35, 36 4 49, 50 43 6 31 27 6 50 30 23, 24 34, 35 37 16, 17 32 22, 23 30 34 7 20 13, 26 11, 46 12 36 17 33, 34 41, 42 5, 6, 26, 50, 53 26, 29 33 35, 36 25, 26 25 9 29 35 13 48 11, 43 36 35 28 6 40, 41 20 5 29, 33 19 11, 43 6, 7 19 12 47 11 13 6 31 15 6, 7 30 37 30 5 19 8 20 6 18, 20, 21 27 33 10 26 50, 51 34 34 11, 12 Paterson, Don 18 Paterson, Judy 41 Patten, Brian 17, 47 Patterson, Ian 24 Pauls, Alan 11 Paver, Michelle 53 Paxman, Jeremy 35 Peet, Mal 51 Péju, Pierre 33 Persaud, Raj 5, 6 Peters, Polly 49 Pettitt, Clare 28 Peura, Maria 17 Phillips, Timothy 18 Pilger, John 31 Pollock, Emma 15 Polukhina, Valentina 19 Pool, Kate 15, 16 Pratt, David 15 Preston, Diana 34 Preston, Michael 34 Purser, John 9 Purves, Libby 28, 29 Raine, Craig 8 Ralph, Anna 23 Ramadan, Tariq 4 Ramsland, Morten 18, 20 Rankin, Ian 11, 12, 15, 30, 31, 46 Ransford, Tessa 9 Rathbone, Julian 12 Rayner, Catherine 52, 53 Redhill, Michael 29 Rees, Gwyneth 53 Reid, Harry 28 Reig, Rafael 9 Reinert, Erik 28 Rendell, Ruth 12 Rennison, Louise 48 Restrepo, Laura 31 Rhodes, Dan 33 Riddell, Chris 51, 52 Riddoch, Lesley 37 Rix, Jamie 52 Robb, David 36 Roberts, Alice 20, 21 Roberts, David 40, 41 Roberts, Michèle 19 Robertson, James 27 Robertson, Robin 18, 19 Ronson, Jon 13 Rose, Michael 22 Rosen, Michael 35, 53 Rosen, Nick 32 Rush, Christopher 13 Russell, Natalie 47 Ryan, Chris 52 Sampson, John 53 Sandell, Jane 41 Scharff, Jill 36 Scheffler, Axel 47 Schmidt, Michael 10 Schoch, Richard 14, 15 Scott, Manda 32 Scott, Paul 7 Sebag Montefiore, Simon 16 Sedgwick, Marcus 52, 53 Segal, Lynne 30, 31 Seiffert, Rachel 7 Self, Will 5, 7 Severgnini, Beppe 15 Shafak, Elif 4 Shan, Darren 44, 45 Shapley, Mio 48 Shapley, Ken 47 Sharratt, Nick 40, 41 Sheehan, James 21 Sheers, Owen 17 Shehadeh, Raja 28 Shields, Gillian 47 Shriver, Lionel 33 Sim, Stuart 14 Simms, Andrew 33, 34 Simon, Francesca 52 Sinha, Indra 32 Smith, Aidan 18 Smith, Ali 15, 18 Smith, David 22 Smith, Donald 33 Smith, Joan 4 Snow, Dan 26 Snow, Peter 26 Somper, Justin 52 Souhami, Diana 15 Spence, Alan 12 Spencer, Charles 13 Spot the Dog 43 St John, Lauren 32, 51, 52 Stafford, David 24 Stafford Smith, Clive 28 Stamatis, Alexis 17 Stanton, Andy 47 Steer, Dugald 42 Stewart, Paul 51 Strachan, Linda 6, 8, 22 Strahan, David 13 Strong, Jeremy 42 Sturdy, Steve 21 Surplice, Holly 50 Suter, Martin 11 Sutherland, John 12, 13 Swift, Graham 8 Swinson, Antonia 13, 17 Taleb, Nassim Nicholas 12 Tearne, Roma 21 Tekin, Latife 35 Teller, Janne 18, 19 Templeton, Aline 15 Thien, Madeleine 29 Thirlwell, Adam 29, 30 Thomas, Ruth 23 Thomas, Scarlett 25 Thomson, Rupert 30 Thubron, Colin 19 Todd, Jenny 22 Tóibín, Colm 25 Tomalin, Claire 16 Torday, Paul 12 Truss, Lynne 25 Tse, Helen 31 Tully, Mark 32 Turner, Jenny 15 Twigger, Robert 29 Ung, Loung 21 Updale, Eleanor 53 Uribe, Kirmen 7 van Maarsen, Jacqueline 6 Vernon, Mark 27 Vittachi, Nury 25 Von Tunzelmann, Alex 12 Wagner, Erica 7 Waitzfelder, Monica 10 Walden, Mark 44 Walker, Gabrielle 30 Wallner, Michael 31 Walsh, John 6 Walsh, Michael 10 Walvin, James 10 Wardell, Pam 45 Warner, Alan 17, 18 Warner, Marina 12 Watt, Douglas 22 Weissbort, Daniel 19 Weldon, Fay 20 Welsh, Louise 15, 17 West, Julian 21 Whatley, Christopher 7 White, Edmund 5 White, Kenneth 35 Whyman, Matt 50 Whyte, Hamish 42 Williams, Dylan 51 Wilson, A N 22 Wilson, Jacqueline 40, 41 Wilson, Liz 52 Wishart, Ruth 5, 6, 13, 14, 16, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 Wood, Frances 31 Wood, Michael 5 Woodward, Gerard 28 Woolley, Benjamin 22 Woomble, Roddy 15 Xue, Xinran 30 Zinovieff, Sofka 15 intro 15/5/07 12:01 PM Page 1